William Nylander

[Kin]

What might help Nylander hurdle that wall would be his Pro/AHL time, which neither Domi nor Larkin really had. Nylander's been playing against some level of pro-adult hockey since 2013.

Yeah, like I said, I think a deep dive on this sort of thing would be interesting while allowing for all sorts of different groupings. NCAA vs. CHL players, NA vs. Europeans, guys with AHL time vs. without, etc

If there was some evidence that there was distinct pattern to rookie scoring like that I'm sure some of it could be attributed to fatigue but I'd bet things like better pro scouting would factor into it as well. Even with his brief call-up last year I'd guess a lot of teams/players are still getting their first look at Nylander and what he can do.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Rookie of the month for October.

 

[TBLeafer]

[tweet]793529570284756992[/tweet]

Toronto Maple Leafs ‏@MapleLeafs  14m14 minutes ago
William Nylander has been named the @NHL Rookie of the Month for October

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Echo...echo...echo.

 

[TBLeafer]

Not quite.  Mine has the pretty picture.

 

[disco]

https://twitter.com/LeafsNews/status/793529872371122176

 

[Zee]

I hope a Leafs player wins rookie of the month each and every month of the season.

 

[Arn]

https://twitter.com/LeafsNews/status/793529872371122176

That's actually mind boggling, like, just by a law of averages

 

[disco]

I know right? How far do you have to go back for Calder... I don't think Wendel in won it in '85. Probably the Sixties.

Matthews, Marner and Nylander could just keep alternating every month  ;D

 

[rdowdall]

I know right? How far do you have to go back for Calder... I don't think Wendel in won it in '85. Probably the Sixties.

Matthews, Marner and Nylander could just keep alternating every month  ;D

Brit Selby 1965-1966. 

 

[Zee]

I honestly didn't think Nylander was this good.  I hope he keeps it up.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I honestly didn't think Nylander was this good.  I hope he keeps it up.

I watched a lot of Marlies games last year, the crazy thing is we might just be scratching the surface on what this guy can do.

 

[L K]

I honestly didn't think Nylander was this good.  I hope he keeps it up.

I'm not.   Sometimes it takes getting lucky to be good.  The Leafs were fortunate that Will dropped to them.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I honestly didn't think Nylander was this good.  I hope he keeps it up.

I'm not.   Sometimes it takes getting lucky to be good.  The Leafs were fortunate that Will dropped to them.

We could have ended up with *shudders* Jake Virtanen or Nick Ritchie.

 

[Beowulf]

I know right? How far do you have to go back for Calder... I don't think Wendel in won it in '85. Probably the Sixties.

Matthews, Marner and Nylander could just keep alternating every month  ;D

Brit Selby 1965-1966.

He taught at my high school, great guy. Unfortunately I didn't have him for any of my classes but everyone who did loved him. I did sit in on a class one day though; I remember him being very funny and there were a few hockey stories thrown in that I wish I could remember.

 

[Bates]

Whoever spoke to Nylander after last season and whatever they said he sure took it to heart and spent the off-season making sure he was ready to be an everyday NHL player.  What a pleasant surprise for a fan base that usually just don't get any.

 

[herman]

An oldie: https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2015/07/26/one-eyed-toronto-maple-leafs-reporter-is-king/

The article isn't even about Nylander, but it shows whatever he's doing now is no surprise to those who have been following his development.

William Nylander isn?t just squeezing into the Top 10 scorers, or merely outscoring his entire age group. He?s outscoring everyone his age that?s played for 10 or 15 or 20 years. And he?s doing this every year, in every league.

• In Swedish Junior: Nylander scored at a 1.6 Points Per Game (PPG) pace. Faster than any 16 year old in a decade. Faster than Landeskog, the Sedins, Filip Forsberg, or Gustav Nyquist.
• The Allsvenskan: He then went on to the Swedish AHL-equivalent, where he scored faster than any 17 year old ever. Faster than Forsberg and Pastrnak and Burakowsky and Backlund and, well? everyone, right?
• In the SHL: he scored faster than any 18 year old had in 20 years. Faster than both Sedins, Anze Kopitar, and Peter Forsberg. Look, he scored faster than Mats Sundin, and he did this on a disastrously bad, last-place MODO team.
• AHL: After Nylander ran out of runway in Sweden, he got called over to the AHL. A mid-season change of language, team-mates, rink size and so on is not easy. The result? Well, in 37 games he scored more points than any 18 year old had in five years. He upped his scoring rate every. single. month. as he adjusted, rising from 0.5 to 0.6 to 0.9 to 1.3 PPG ? just as he had scaled up his scoring rate in the SHL. He finished the season with 15 points in the last 10 games.
• International: At every age ? 17, 18 and 20 ? Nylander has scored more than 1.4 PPG at the Worlds. Pause on that and hit replay for a second: At every age ? 17, 18 and 20 ? Nylander has scored more than 1.4 PPG at the Worlds. He was the top scorer at the World Under 18?s, and just one point off the lead at last year?s World Junior Championship.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I honestly didn't think Nylander was this good.  I hope he keeps it up.

I'm not.   Sometimes it takes getting lucky to be good.  The Leafs were fortunate that Will dropped to them.

We could have ended up with *shudders* Jake Virtanen or Nick Ritchie.

Thank-you Vancouver and Carolina!

 

[Zee]

I honestly didn't think Nylander was this good.  I hope he keeps it up.

I'm not.   Sometimes it takes getting lucky to be good.  The Leafs were fortunate that Will dropped to them.

We could have ended up with *shudders* Jake Virtanen or Nick Ritchie.

Thank-you Vancouver and Carolina!

Looking back on that draft, it's sort of shocking that Vancouver didn't pick Nylander.  They already have the Sedins, and an offensive Swedish player is available, you would have thought that would be a natural to select him and "learn" from the Sedins.  The Leafs gain for sure, but just goes to show you how much luck it involved in the draft, Nylander fell to the Leafs and he's looking like a steal now.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Looking back on that draft, it's sort of shocking that Vancouver didn't pick Nylander.  They already have the Sedins, and an offensive Swedish player is available, you would have thought that would be a natural to select him and "learn" from the Sedins.  The Leafs gain for sure, but just goes to show you how much luck it involved in the draft, Nylander fell to the Leafs and he's looking like a steal now.

Yeah I remember thinking that Nylander was a lock there too.