Nylander signed his contract extension January 8th.
The production before and after that date is remarkably different.
[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TH][/TH]
[TH][/TH]
[TH][/TH]
[TH][/TH]
[TH][/TH]
[TH][/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Gp[/TD]
[TD]G[/TD]
[TD]A[/TD]
[TD]Pts[/TD]
[TD]+/-[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]October through Jan 8[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Team[/TD]
[TD]37[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]47[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Matthews[/TD]
[TD]36[/TD]
[TD]30[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]45[/TD]
[TD]+7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Marner[/TD]
[TD]37[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]40[/TD]
[TD]+4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Nylander[/TD]
[TD]37[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]33[/TD]
[TD]54[/TD]
[TD]+5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tavares[/TD]
[TD]37[/TD]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]22[/TD]
[TD]34[/TD]
[TD]+4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Bertuzzi[/TD]
[TD]36[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]18[/TD]
[TD]+7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Domi[/TD]
[TD]37[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]19[/TD]
[TD]22[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jan 8 to End of Season[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Team[/TD]
[TD]45[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]55[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Matthews[/TD]
[TD]45[/TD]
[TD]39[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]62[/TD]
[TD]+24[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Marner[/TD]
[TD]32[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]34[/TD]
[TD]45[/TD]
[TD]+17[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Nylander[/TD]
[TD]45[/TD]
[TD]19[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]44[/TD]
[TD]-4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tavares[/TD]
[TD]43[/TD]
[TD]17[/TD]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]31[/TD]
[TD]-2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Bertuzzi[/TD]
[TD]43[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]-5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Domi[/TD]
[TD]43[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]19[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]+10[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
If you don't see a major difference in production from before to after the contract signing, then I don't know what to say.
What this breakdown illustrates, is that when Marner went down to injury, and Nylander slowed down significantly (as did Tavares), Matthews stepped up to carry the team.
It wasn't Domi or Bertuzzi doing any of the heavy lifting.
Despite the slowing down of Nylander, Tavares, and even Marner slightly, and despite Marner being out for weeks, Toronto barely saw a downturn in their team performance buoyed by someone scoring almost a goal per game and being +24 over the last 45 games of the year.