William Nylander appreciation thread

[CapspaceKiller]

If they lose game 7, he'll be the one taking the heat even though he's played great with tons of effort and is one of the few players with the guts to go to the net on every play and has been consistently the leafs most dangerous forward shift to shift.

 

[Gary Nylund]

In playoff hockey it is not about LOOKING good or bad .. it is all about showing up every shift to sacrifice for your team in whatever way presents itself each shift .. da team which has more guys who don't sacrifice in a particular game generally loses .. now it is mostly same guys game in game out who sacrifice but it varies a little game to game

In playoff hockey it's about scoring more goals then the other team. Nylander's been very good in that regard, end of story.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

In playoff hockey it's about scoring more goals then the other team. Nylander's been very good in that regard, end of story.

Well there is where we disagree .. that is fine .. but I think you will find if you talk to enough pro players you will hear loud and clear games are won and lost on sacrifices on each and every shift and doing da right thing every time .. guys who end up on wrong side of puck are generally reason for playoff losses if you have too many of those types

 

[Gabriel426]

You guys do realise that the 2nd JT goal right before the end of 2nd was the result of Willie driving to the net and the defence man and Vas were playing him to do that this it created space for JT.
Like I said, crap on Willie due to his season of Game 1-3 but not last night game.

Like I said in the game thread, I am not mad or pissed about last night game bc the boys all showed up. Could Willie played better last night, Ofcourse he could, I wish he scored in OT when he had that shot but this applied to all Leafs, Kampf, Mik, Kerfoot and AM could have scored in OT too, all players could have done this or that better. Fact is, the team showed up and actually had the lead in an elimination game, something they have not done in the past two years.

 

[GojuLeaf]

Well there is where we disagree .. that is fine .. but I think you will find if you talk to enough pro players you will hear loud and clear games are won and lost on sacrifices on each and every shift and doing da right thing every time .. guys who end up on wrong side of puck are generally reason for playoff losses if you have too many of those types

People with this train of thought would probably happily trade Willy over to Edmonton to get Hyman back...

 

[JT AM da real deal]

People with this train of thought would probably happily trade Willy over to Edmonton to get Hyman back...

No why would you ever do that? Now Willy for a Seth Jones type sure .. but you need a few of Zach types to win Cups

 

[Gary Nylund]

Well there is where we disagree .. that is fine .. but I think you will find if you talk to enough pro players you will hear loud and clear games are won and lost on sacrifices on each and every shift and doing da right thing every time .. guys who end up on wrong side of puck are generally reason for playoff losses if you have too many of those types

Like I said before, games are won by outscoring the other team. If you disagree then talk to some pro players, they'll set you straight.

And there isn't one player in hockey history that does the right thing every time on every shift.

 

[ACC1224]

Well there is where we disagree .. that is fine .. but I think you will find if you talk to enough pro players you will hear loud and clear games are won and lost on sacrifices on each and every shift and doing da right thing every time .. guys who end up on wrong side of puck are generally reason for playoff losses if you have too many of those types

Yep. These basic details are lost on many but are crucial to the outcome.
Some just look at the score but it's all the minor details that determine who wins and loses.

 

[meefer]

What is it about Nylander (and Marner) that results in such extreme positions? They are both fine players and I’m happy we have both. At times, Nylander frustrates because of his wonderful skills being underutilized. Marner, in some ways the same, but more results based than effort. Personally, I’m hard pressed to think of many teams who have the equal of the Leafs on lines 1 and 2. Tomorrow will be a test. I hope both perform up to their abilities.

 

[ER89]

Yep. These basic details are lost on many but are crucial to the outcome.
Some just look at the score but it's all the minor details that determine who wins and loses.

yeah for sure lets take will's two dimes and lose 4-1.

 

[ZEBROA]

Nylanders play is built on position. Cutting of lanes and recieving passes from puckdiggers. Because he is usually great at transporting the puck into the offensive zone. Sometime he takes his Job assignment to far, or play with players who dont understand that a chip pass away from the board open up more ice then a pass along the board.

To bring out his best he need players who adapt to his way of playing, not mostly the other way around.

Him and Tavares has been the hardest pieces of the puzzel to place. But they only tried to move Nylander. Not the right way to solve a puzzle.

Tavares been a lot better, Nylander too. Hope all players are in the zone tonight.

 

[leafsfan5]

For 7 million you're not going to do better than Willy, his value is much greater than that

Expect a big game from him tomorrow, he's money

 

[hobarth]

Lol go watch Marner's effort on the OT goal. Sad all around. He should have put in some more effort to get the puck back after making a poor pass but instead he just reaches into the dude instead of taking the body and loses his stick so he can't break up the pass. Marner is weak along the boards, always has been. This was just another example of it.

Again, I'll state if this was nylander, we wouldn't hear the end of it.

I believe there was a game where Mitch had the most hits for TO during this series. Mitch hits, irritates, PKs and much more but he isn't strong, I think Nylander is far stronger and I think faster.

I don't think this is a good comparison.

 

[1specter]

Yep. These basic details are lost on many but are crucial to the outcome.
Some just look at the score but it's all the minor details that determine who wins and loses.

Pretty sure goals determine who wins and loses, and Nylander has scored 11 of those in the playoffs since 2019. The only player who has more is Matthews at 12, and when you isolate to 2020 onwards Nylander is #1 on the team with 10.

Marner only has 4 since 2019 and 2 since 2020, John Tavares 7 since 2019 and 5 since 2020 (he gets a bit of a pass since he got nuked in the head last year).

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

Yep. These basic details are lost on many but are crucial to the outcome.
Some just look at the score but it's all the minor details that determine who wins and loses.

No it's quite literally the score that determines who wins and loses. Matthews and Marner did a ton of little good things against Montreal last year. Guess who moved on to the next round? I'm tired of winning the xGF% battle, I want to win real games, and real playoff series.

 

[ACC1224]

Yes goals determines who wins, enlightening.

I fully expect a great game from Nylander tonight and that he’ll make a difference. He’ll hear it from the home crowd though if he pulls the chute or doesn’t show complete effort in such an important game.

 

[notDatsyuk]

People said the same stuff about Kessel all the time, and he helped lead a team to two cups.

Kessel went from being the big gun on a mediocre team (a role for which he was not suited) to being a second/third line player (and probably fourth best member of their PP) on a very good team.

Actually, that's surprisingly similar to Tavares' situation - let's hope he can get the same results here.

 

[cupcrazyman]

Not happy with his 80 % effort or is that number too high ?

 

[ULF_55]

Yes goals determines who wins, enlightening.

I fully expect a great game from Nylander tonight and that he’ll make a difference. He’ll hear it from the home crowd though if he pulls the chute or doesn’t show complete effort in such an important game.

Leafs need everyone to show up, which might have happened about 3 times so far. There isn't a single core player who has showed up in every game.

 

[pcruz]

You guys do realise that the 2nd JT goal right before the end of 2nd was the result of Willie driving to the net and the defence man and Vas were playing him to do that this it created space for JT.
Like I said, crap on Willie due to his season of Game 1-3 but not last night game.

Like I said in the game thread, I am not mad or pissed about last night game bc the boys all showed up. Could Willie played better last night, Ofcourse he could, I wish he scored in OT when he had that shot but this applied to all Leafs, Kampf, Mik, Kerfoot and AM could have scored in OT too, all players could have done this or that better. Fact is, the team showed up and actually had the lead in an elimination game, something they have not done in the past two years.

Here is the thing about Nylander:

He has all the tools to be a superstar in the league.
His confidence is as flat a line as a guitar string, never fluctuating at all.
His determination, effort, will are a Sine wave.

When he's at the crest of the wave, the guy is unreal.
When he's at the trough of the wave, he's a massive liability.

Which Nylander we get changes from game to game.

Hopefully we see another crest tonight.

 

[Havoc]

There's no game 8 Keefe. Get all 4 of the big guys in the 20 minute mark tonight. Feels more appropriate to put this in the nylander thread since he's most likely to get second line usage even though he's dominating the games.

 

[keonsbitterness]

There's no game 8 Keefe. Get all 4 of the big guys in the 20 minute mark tonight. Feels more appropriate to put this in the nylander thread since he's most likely to get second line usage even though he's dominating the games.

I remember when the OHL (OHA back then) had the possibility of a game 8. Under the rules back then, playoff games could end in a tie, so it was possible for a series to be 3-3-1 or even seven ties after seven games.

 

[Stephen]

Here is the thing about Nylander:

He has all the tools to be a superstar in the league.
His confidence is as flat a line as a guitar string, never fluctuating at all.
His determination, effort, will are a Sine wave.

When he's at the crest of the wave, the guy is unreal.
When he's at the trough of the wave, he's a massive liability.

Which Nylander we get changes from game to game.

Hopefully we see another crest tonight.

If you watch our 88 and Tampa's 86, there's not a lot of daylight in terms of their talent level. Nylander has a really high ceiling but like you say, he can be a sine wave.

 

[Lawrence Slewfoote]

Nylander 7p in 6 playoff games - quite alright. Let's see what he brings in game 7 against Tampa. A lot of shit is thrown on Marner in here, but he's been better in this years playoff compared to last years. he has not been crying in the box, not once (so far )

 

[Aashir]

Your tenure was pretty polarizing

Won’t really miss you