bustaheims
Active member
Britishbulldog said:bustaheims said:Britishbulldog said:I don't think that I am not a Nylander hater but for the skill he has shown in the regular season and in the playoffs he is the one Leaf forward that really shies away from physical contact and has cost goals when bailing on being hit or hitting. Matthews, Tavares, Kerfoot, Mikheyev, Kampf, Kase and even Marner are throwing hits now and going in the 'dirty areas'.
So I really LOVE Nylander's talent but looking at other similar talented players you don't see such an avoidance to physical contact. I am not looking for a Ryan Reaves, Nicholas Deslaurier, Tom Wilson style BTW. If he simply played like Pastrnak (6'0" 189 lbs) who is the same age and a lighter physique I would be estatic. I was even looking at Debrincat who is younger than Nylander but has 83 hits in his 63 games to go with his 34 goals. I then discovered Debrincat is 5'7" and only 160-ish lbs compared to Nylanders 23 goals and 6'0" 202 lbs body.
Nylander scores a huge portion of his goals from the slot/in front of the net - very much dirty areas. He may not throw hits, but it's not at all accurate to say he's not willing to play tough minutes in difficult areas or bails on being hit. He picks his spots. No sense in taking a hit when there isn't a play to be made.
Maybe I just hate him then...rats!
Or, you've just bought into the narrative that's been pushed about him since before he got here and hasn't changed regardless of how Nylander actually plays. It can be hard to shake the vision you have of a player even when their performance doesn't line up with it. You still focus on the times he doesn't do what you want rather, and that just reinforces your position. Confirmation bias is hard to overcome.