Analyst Sounds Off on William Nylander’s Tumultuous Year

It’s been a roller-coaster ride of a 2025-26 season for William Nylander. Injury issues, inconsistent play at times, run-ins with the coach, and some off-ice antics—all while losing more than he ever has during his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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As a result, he’s found himself in the headlines more than once, and that was again the case on Saturday night when he injured Anthony Stolarz with a high shot near the throat during warmups. It was another moment to forget for Nylander, though analyst Sid Seixeiro hasn’t forgotten anything that’s gone on, which showed when recapping the messy year that it’s been for the superstar winger.

Seixeiro said:

“William Nylander’s year: zero defence, at times didn’t score when you needed him to. Middle finger to the camera, TSN camera. Tank top in the box. Missed a bunch of games, then came back for two games before the Olympics, went to the Olympics, wasn’t good. Came back hasn’t been good. Has taken up zero leadership role. Zero. And was given an A for it. Didn’t defend Auston, was given an A as punishment. Says he didn’t see it… I know a lot of people are like he has a no-movement, so what do you do with him? It’s a valid point. You sit him. You sit him until he waives it. If the Leafs want to fix this culture and if the Leafs want to start this rebuild they’ve got to play dirty with their players. And I’m serious when I say that I mean it.”

The 29-year-old Nylander is in year two of the eight-year, $92 million extension he signed with the Maple Leafs in 2024, which includes, as he mentioned, a full no-movement clause throughout. He leads Toronto in scoring this season with 65 points (24 goals, 41 assists) through 54 games played.

Toronto certainly isn’t going to sit Nylander, but after this mess of a season and the future of Auston Matthews also in question, he may be more open to a change of scenery than people think.

If he or the Maple Leafs do decide that a parting of ways is necessary, expect a long list of teams to show major interest in the three-time 40-goal scorer, because in the right situation, he can absolutely take a team over the top—a la Phil Kessel to Pittsburgh back in the day.

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