Did William Nylander Hit a New Low with the Maple Leafs?

With captain Auston Matthews out for the rest of the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs are William Nylander’s team for the next month. He’s now by far their best player, highest-paid player, and was promoted to assistant captain in Matthews’ absence.

---

While the Maple Leafs are playing somewhat meaningless hockey down the stretch—with MoneyPuck already giving them a 0% chance of making the playoffs—there’s still a lot to play for, and a superstar and supposed leader like Nylander is expected to continue to show up and be a professional.

So far, without Matthews, it hasn’t been all that pretty for him (one assist in three games), and that was especially the case on Tuesday night against the Islanders—a game TSN analyst Bryan Hayes believes may have been the worst Nylander has ever played in Toronto.

Hayes said:

“They’ve completely packed it in, and I think their best players in particular. I don’t want to harp on anyone in particular, but I thought William Nylander may have played the worst game I’ve ever seen him play last night. Like it was horrendous. Like Willy, it looks like he’s just kind of had enough,”

The 29-year-old Nylander still leads the Maple Leafs in scoring with 63 points (23 goals, 40 assists) produced through just 52 games played this season.

Rough Night for William Nylander

It all seemed to begin at Tuesday’s morning skate, where Nylander was whiffing on one-timers and getting an earful from HC Craig Berube at times. Then came warmups, where he duffed another shot into the corner, and that all appeared to carry over into the game—one he and the team will want to forget.

There’s no doubt it has to be difficult for Nylander to get up for these games after nine straight seasons of cruising into the playoffs in Toronto. That being said, he makes $11.5 million, and there has to be a standard set—no matter the circumstances, effort is non-negotiable. It’s especially important coming from your most talented player.

He and the Maple Leafs have 13 games left to finish on a higher note than what’s gone on through the first 69 games of the season. But regardless of how it plays out, major questions—and potentially major change—could be coming this offseason, and Nylander might be at the forefront of it.

Next: Maple Leafs, Oilers Linked to Offseason Owen Tippett Trade