William Nylander no longer a fit for the Maple Leafs?
Maple Leafs' Head coach Sheldon Keefe has recently moved William Nylander from his familiar position on the 2nd line with John Tavares to the 3rd line during the game against the Montreal Canadiens on March 26th and he has played there ever since. The first few games since the move Nylander had his ice time dip a little from his usual 18+ minutes a night to around 15 minutes. Since the lineup change the Leafs have gone 7-2. Nylander has found individual success as well contributing 5 goals and 5 assists for 10 points in the 9 games.
Jonas Siegel does a good job below explaining the Nylander situation. He has been playing primarily with Pierre Engvall and David Kampf. His five on five minutes have dropped with Keefe sprinkling him in for the odd offensive zone draw with Tavares and Mikheyev. The third line loses its ability to be the great checking line with Nylander on the wing instead of a more defensive responsible forward in Alexander Kerfoot or Ilya Mikheyev.
The third line itself at the moment — Nylander–Kampf–Engvall — lacks any specific utility. It's not a line that's suitable for burying with Nylander in the mix. Nor is it a combo that's going to threaten much offensively.
But what's the alternative? There's no other place to put Nylander at this point — other than back with Tavares of course. That still seems like the logical endpoint here, though with how well the current second group is functioning, why change things?
Pondering the situation the Leafs are currently in with their lineup. It does make some sense when Chris Johnson brought up breaking up the Core 4 forwards a couple weeks ago it has to be William Nylander he was speaking of.
How things play out this post season will show Leafs Management what next steps should be. If Nylander ends up being the Leafs best player in the playoffs again it will be hard to trade him even with his defensive flaws.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 12 | 247 ANSWERS William Nylander no longer a fit for the Maple Leafs? Out of the Core 4 who will have the most points in the Playoffs this year? | ||
| Auston Matthews | 96 | 38.9 % |
| Mitch Marner | 58 | 23.5 % |
| John Tavares | 32 | 13 % |
| William Nylander | 61 | 24.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
