William Nylander

[herman]

I don't necessarily have a problem with that scenario as long as he can get some steady minutes. Nylander played 11 minutes yesterday. Hyman was at 20 and Komarov 18+. There is no excuse for him to be lagging that far behind, particularly on a night when they only had to kill two penalties and the game was tied until the very end.  I'm still trying to process Komarov getting the 2nd most minutes out of all forwards...

Komarov is a tri-phasic player: he's on EV strength match up duty, PK1, and PP2. He gonna get minutes just by that reason alone. Should he?

Hyman and Brown's minutes are tied to matchups. On the road, these are usually hard matched against other top lines. Against teams that are top heavy, that type of deployment saps the offense right out of you. It's to Hyman and Brown's credit that they still have the zip to start more than a few forays into the OZ. I can't see Nylander playing that level of defense regularly and being that effective going back the other way just yet. But when he does... hooo boy.

The Leafs aren't getting very many calls right now. Otherwise, you'd see Nylander's minutes climb. He still gets the odd shift with Matthews or Kadri (4-on-4, post-PK).

Right now, he's not demoted. He's playing 'secret' weapon. He's just getting a mini vacation to pad his stats and build his confidence before jumping back into hard matchups when we play again at home.

 

[Coco-puffs]

Nylander has 6 points on a 4-game point streak. He's 3rd on the team in points behind Matthews and Kadri (so he leads all wingers). He leads the team in assists. And he's only shooting 7.5%.

edit: Oh he's 55.1% on face-offs too.

I don't really mind someone like Nylander being used as an overmatch option once in awhile.

Nylander has made Martin and Moore look like legit NHLers and spiked their confidence (Martin tried to snipe it later in the game! Moore is showing off moves he hadn't used since he was 28!). If we can sort out our penalty taking problems (*cough* Polak) and keep buzzing the offensive zone in waves, Willy will get plenty of PP time to offset low even-strength minutes. Nights like last night, I'd even play Moore's line over Bozak's.

I don't necessarily have a problem with that scenario as long as he can get some steady minutes. Nylander played 11 minutes yesterday. Hyman was at 20 and Komarov 18+. There is no excuse for him to be lagging that far behind, particularly on a night when they only had to kill two penalties and the game was tied until the very end.  I'm still trying to process Komarov getting the 2nd most minutes out of all forwards...

The Leafs had a lead for 40 of the first 43 minutes of the game.  They only played 19 minutes tied, mostly in the 3rd after Russell's first goal.  And Bozak, JvR, Marner played only slightly more than Nylander at even strength.  Babcock ran Kadri/Matthews a lot at even strength trying to avoid the 3rd/4th lines getting caught out there against McDavid.  Nylander displacing Komarov on the shutdown line when most of the game the Leafs had the lead would not be ideal. 

 

[CarltonTheBear]

The Leafs had a lead for 40 of the first 43 minutes of the game.  They only played 19 minutes tied, mostly in the 3rd after Russell's first goal.  And Bozak, JvR, Marner played only slightly more than Nylander at even strength.  Babcock ran Kadri/Matthews a lot at even strength trying to avoid the 3rd/4th lines getting caught out there against McDavid.  Nylander displacing Komarov on the shutdown line when most of the game the Leafs had the lead would not be ideal. 

Thanks for being instrumental on all 4 of our goals so far tonight, Willie. We got this from here!

*team blow leads*

This joke would have worked much better if Nylander wasn't on the ice for Kassian's goal but I still like it.

 

[cabber24]

Nylander has 6 points on a 4-game point streak. He's 3rd on the team in points behind Matthews and Kadri (so he leads all wingers). He leads the team in assists. And he's only shooting 7.5%.

edit: Oh he's 55.1% on face-offs too.

I am big on shooting percentages but he only has 8 shots in the last 7 games. Shoot the puck!

 

[disco]

https://twitter.com/RLeesam/status/938613284835491842

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/HeyBarber/status/938650255154847744

If you asked Nylander about this shot, it'd be something to the effect of, "I don't know, I just waited for him to make a move, I guess."

 

[Zee]

That goal was a thing of beauty.  Leafs had to ship Mike Smith's jock out to Montreal tonight in time for the game.

 

[slapshot]

Damien Cox had an article today on Willie and Mitch's off years leaving money on the table, though Marner is still a year away from a new deal. I expect Nylander to come in at $6 million, comparable Nic Ehlers, drafted one spot below him but has played 50 more games. Marner will probably come in around the same. Matthews gets at least 10. The way he started the years, he could have been looking at McDavid type money. There is still a ways to go for him and he might get there yet. But around $22 million for the 3 of them would be decent, considering Kane-Toews, McDavid-Draisaitl, are a combined $20 each.

 

[herman]

Babcock on why he likes Willy off to the side, until he plays hard enough
https://twitter.com/jonassiegel/status/943165469359464449

 

[Highlander]

Babcock on why he likes Willy off to the side, until he plays hard enough
https://twitter.com/jonassiegel/status/943165469359464449

Perhaps there is a method to his madness!

 

[disco]

https://twitter.com/NHLGIFs/status/968667204534329345

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/jonassiegel/status/968926477457743873

https://theathletic.com/256279/2018/02/28/so-much-about-william-nylander-remains-a-mystery/

We shouldn't take it as a slight to Nylander when Babcock doesn't immediately heap praise on him. I think Willy thrives on challenge and being reminded he's not good enough yet. If he backchecked and drove the net every time like he was trying to making up for a mistake, the other teams would cry.

 

[Highlander]

https://twitter.com/NHLGIFs/status/968667204534329345

That is totally sick, what a play.  In the Yotes game he undressed OEL who was across the blue line, takes the stolen puck swoops in on the goalie and goes to the backhand to bury it. Great happened right in front of us.

 

[BrownRolo]

So what's with all the articles about Nylander's "potential" and he needs to stay "competitive"? The Athletic, Sportsnet and TSN all have articles that came out today with a similar premise.

Do all the writers just copy from each other? One puts an article out and they all jump on the same idea?

Or is this a Leafs top-down thing? Did someone in the Leafs organization tell everyone to put stuff like this out? Because I haven't seen a problem with Nylander's compete level in a long time.

 

[herman]

So what's with all the articles about Nylander's "potential" and he needs to stay "competitive"? The Athletic, Sportsnet and TSN all have articles that came out today with a similar premise.

Do all the writers just copy from each other? One puts an article out and they all jump on the same idea?

Or is this a Leafs top-down thing? Did someone in the Leafs organization tell everyone to put stuff like this out? Because I haven't seen a problem with Nylander's compete level in a long time.

It's due to him putting on a highlight reel play of effort and then Babcock's comments after were slightly damning with faint praise.

 

[ZBBM]

I see on the tsn website they have a video of Dreger saying that Marner has established himself at a level above Nylander.  I can't get the video to work, but on the face of it I'd say that's very premature.  Marner's been fantastic lately, but I'd say Nylander's been the most consistent forward all year ... well, at least as consistent as Matthews.

 

[Bender]

I see on the tsn website they have a video of Dreger saying that Marner has established himself at a level above Nylander.  I can't get the video to work, but on the face of it I'd say that's very premature.  Marner's been fantastic lately, but I'd say Nylander's been the most consistent forward all year ... well, at least as consistent as Matthews.

What are you talking about? Mitch has two bad months but plays at 1.2ppg pace and Nylander is the better/more consistent player? Does not compute. In fact I think Mitch has taken a step defensively while Willie still needs to get tougher on backchecking.

Both great players but I don't see how, for at least half the season, Mitch hasn't been the better player.

 

[Kin]

All of this Marner vs. Nylander stuff reminds me of how my parents used to fight like maniacs over who was their favourite child.

 

[rdowdall]

All of this Marner vs. Nylander stuff reminds me of how my parents used to fight like maniacs over who was their favourite child.

That story would be even more sad if you were an only child.

 

[Kin]

All of this Marner vs. Nylander stuff reminds me of how my parents used to fight like maniacs over who was their favourite child.

That story would be even more sad if you were an only child.

You'd think that but that would also mean I wouldn't have to deal with my siblings so...mixed bag.

Happy Passover everyone!