Waived: [TOR] F Alex Nylander waived by the Maple Leafs

[Bounces R Way]

nice guy
tries hard
loves the game

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Great skillset
Never seemed to have the drive to utilize it.

 

[Sabresbyswords104]

He just looks like a spoiled kid , no effort or fighting spirit just though he could make it with talent alone. He could not adjust either as he had no other skills or the mental game, just wanted to be the one

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

It’s gotta be pretty awful. Like the unfortunate times one brother ends up the chad and the brother is completely ignored most of the time.

Yeah must be really tough to have a dad worth multiple millions of dollars growing up while you get to play pro hockey as a job , poor dude

 

[BertCorbeau]

Should of waived Willy

Not today Satan

 

[Man Bear Pig]

This draft had some hype around that top 10
And don’t get me wrong there is some amazing players in it

But also some absolute hot garbage

I remember thinking at the time that Alex had a shot at being a legit star one day as he had similar tools to his brother. He just doesn't bring anything to the table if he's not producing.

 

[cyris]

Great skillset
Never seemed to have the drive to utilize it.

Yeah after getting a chance to really watch him play for 5 games he is the answer to what Willy Nylander would be if he didn’t want it at all.
Similar skill set and absolutely none of his drive.

 

[LeafalCrusader]

Not today Satan

He's retired

 

[Xspyrit]

Seems like a question to ask someone like Gretzky.


Keith Gretzky.

Baby Brent has unliked your post.

 

[Chainshot]

Baby Brett has unliked your post.

Brent*

 

[Xspyrit]

Brent*

Erase this I was editing!

 

[trellaine201]

1st round BUST

 

[Bruce Granville]

What this guy needs is a winning environment and an elite core to play with.

Yes, Stan Bowman incoming.

Insert therearetwogranlundsnylanders meme here.

 

[Fatass]

Alex is just one of those many guys who can’t contribute as a top six and doesn’t compete like a bottom six. These guys really just aren’t NHLers. They can play for short bursts but their lack of consistency (at any one level) keeps from catching on. He will do very well in Europe.

 

[Martin Skoula]

Yeah after getting a chance to really watch him play for 5 games he is the answer to what Willy Nylander would be if he didn’t want it at all.
Similar skill set and absolutely none of his drive.

I have not once seen gamebreaking skating or shooting from him, I haven’t seen him thread a perfect pass through sticks and bodies. I don’t care about his backchecking habits or how physical he is or anything, the natural talent gap alone is absolutely enormous before even comparing IQ or drive.

 

[The Shadow]

Semi offtopic, always makes me wonder how guys like him feel when their brother is a superstar making tens of millions of dollars and they can't carve a career in the league at all and are Europe bound. Yeah, I know, things could be worse for him, but still.

He has talent. If you watched the games you could see brief moments. But no motor and drive. He had every chance to take a spot. It was there and he just didn’t get it.

 

[Turin]

Not good enough to be a top six player, doesn't have the mentality to be a bottom six player. Many such cases.

 

[Antropovsky]

nice guy
tries hard
loves the game

Nice guy
Doesn't try hard
Loves his brother

 

[olli]

What is it with this guys game that doesn’t translate to the NHL level?

Great skillset
Never seemed to have the drive to utilize it.

That seems odd given one would think he’d be doing everything he could to be at least a full time nhler seeing his brother get better and better year after year.

 

[danny90]

nice guy
tries hard
loves the game

No one can fill those shoes

 

[uncleben]

I thought he finally found his place in Columbus and I was baffled when they didn't resign him. The burnout in Toronto is not unexpected as that's what happened in Chicago and Pittsburgh. I wish him the best.

FWIW he's not being waived because he burnt out.
He was brought in because 7 games ahead of him on the depth chart were injured and another 1 was suspended. We needed a body.
Now those guys are almost all back, so he's been re-assigned.

He didn't do anything flashy or exciting while here, but he served his role as "alternate-backup-emergency-replacement-callup player" lol