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William Nylander Discussion Thread

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I am giving Nylander credit where its due. This is the Nylander I was wanting and he was a monster Category 5 Hurricane out there. I saw emotion and anger. He is playing out there with passion and I love that. This is how he should play every game and especially in the playoffs. Both Nylander and Tavares have been heating up. Their game is on fire and this is what the Leafs need. Now if we add Granlund, Staal or Hall to that line watch out!
 
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Last nights game was the exact reason why Willy is so polarizing with Leaf Nation. Man he looked so good last night. And in fairness to Will, he has looked great since EDM series. But last night he looked special. Its totally unrealistic to think he can play that way every game, but if he could even manage to do that 66% of the time, he would be a pt/g, dominant NHL player. Easily should have had a hattrick last night if not for Helly. When Willy is on, he is as fun of a player to watch as anyone. He protects the puck unbelievably and has a step on everyone on the ice. He seems to be putting more pucks on net as well. 3 of his last 4 games he has had 5 or more SOG, which is extremely encouraging. Because it ultimately means he is going to the net more. Great stuff from Willy. His last 8 games have been really good, 8pts/8GP and truthfully should have had more. Hard to believe but he's been a bit snake bitten in that stretch.

For the record, I am definitely guilty of being someone who is occasionally is left wanting more from Willy. But he has given that to us as of late and deserves a ton of praise IMO
 
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I am a huge nylander guy. But I fail to see why he can't do what he did yesterday more often. Even when Willy sits back he is fairly effective but if he takes the game on he becomes an absolute force. Skills he is as good as they get.
 
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He had his best game of the season last night. Hopefully we'll see more of that moving forward.
 
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For all the heat they have taken:

Nylander/Tavares 5v5 stats this year together:

CF%: 55.18
SF%: 55.17
SCF%: 57.51
HDCF%: 64.17
xGF%: 59.90
GF%: 71.79

Best second line duo in the league?
 
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Zybalto said:
For all the heat they have taken:

Nylander/Tavares 5v5 stats this year together:

CF%: 55.18
SF%: 55.17
SCF%: 57.51
HDCF%: 64.17
xGF%: 59.90
GF%: 71.79

Best second line duo in the league?
Click to expand...
The line is dominant at generating chances but has struggled to convert which hurts the team and their overall impacts. With stats so dominant both shouldnt be at 70 and 62 point pace.

That line needs a finisher. Someone who has a dirty shot and good hands. Nylander isnt a finisher relative to the chances he gets so we need to either trade for that type of player or promote Robertson and see if he gels in that role

I would also hope Keefe is sensible enough to try Alex Galchenyuk in that role given his past 30 gale scoring capabilities and the fact that we gave up a decent prospect for him, it doesnt make sense to have him play in the AHL.

Bring up Galchenyuk and see if he can be a complimentary 3rd piece and finish the chances that WN and JT are creating
 
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hamzarocks said:
The line is dominant at generating chances but has struggled to convert which hurts the team and their overall impacts. With stats so dominant both shouldnt be at 70 and 62 point pace.

That line needs a finisher. Someone who has a dirty shot and good hands. Nylander isnt a finisher relative to the chances he gets so we need to either trade for that type of player or promote Robertson and see if he gels in that role

I would also hope Keefe is sensible enough to try Alex Galchenyuk in that role given his past 30 gale scoring capabilities and the fact that we gave up a decent prospect for him, it doesnt make sense to have him play in the AHL.

Bring up Galchenyuk and see if he can be a complimentary 3rd piece and finish the chances that WN and JT are creating
Click to expand...

I think its still more of a snakebitten thing this year with those 2 together but mostly on Tavares.

With almost a full season's games under Keefe in the books, Nylander ranks as having the 13th best goals/60 during that span as a 2nd line finisher (Matthews is first in the NHL during that stretch).

Nylander is ahead of McDavid, Draisaitl, Laine, Rantanen, Ehlers, Mackinnon, Panarin, Scheifele, Malkin, Pettersson, etc., etc. as a finisher over the last 73 games so I'm not sure its entirely fair to have this continued narrative about him.

Tavares is the one who is more snakebitten but his defensive game has been so good it's hard to really complain. Their production has been slowly on the rise though and they are probably due for a few big games soon. Whether your scoring goals or not, if you have a 72% 5v5 goal differential on the ice in big minutes against a high level of QoC, you take that the rest of your career and end up hall of famers on a cup winning team. I mean, teams with elite 5v5 play are teams that are between 55 and 60% goal differential on a year.

Still not too worried. The highlight reels of goalies making 10 bellers on them is pretty long over the last couple of months while a guy like Vesey has had goals basically fall onto his lap.
 
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hamzarocks said:
The line is dominant at generating chances but has struggled to convert which hurts the team and their overall impacts. With stats so dominant both shouldnt be at 70 and 62 point pace.

That line needs a finisher. Someone who has a dirty shot and good hands. Nylander isnt a finisher relative to the chances he gets so we need to either trade for that type of player or promote Robertson and see if he gels in that role

I would also hope Keefe is sensible enough to try Alex Galchenyuk in that role given his past 30 gale scoring capabilities and the fact that we gave up a decent prospect for him, it doesnt make sense to have him play in the AHL.

Bring up Galchenyuk and see if he can be a complimentary 3rd piece and finish the chances that WN and JT are creating
Click to expand...

Nylander isn't a finisher?

Goals per game, last 2 seasons:

15. MacKinnon .45
16. Panarin .45
17. Kane .45
18. Nylander .44
19. Rust .44
20. Eichel .43
21. Marchand .43
22. Laine .43
 
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Menzinger said:
May have been the best game of his career so far. An outstanding performance

While he excels at shooting and playmaking, I get the sense most fans tend to like his game more when it's focused on shooting.
Click to expand...
A lot of people only see goal scoring as a measure of the palyer
 
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zeke said:
Nylander isn't a finisher?

Goals per game, last 2 seasons:

15. MacKinnon .45
16. Panarin .45
17. Kane .45
18. Nylander .44
19. Rust .44
20. Eichel .43
21. Marchand .43
22. Laine .43
Click to expand...
A finisher in terms of the insane chances he gets, he should be a 45 goal scorer with how often he is getting net-front chances. He also doesn't use his deadly shot as often as he should IMO with him being an Ehlers/Connor level shooter if he focuses on developing his 1-T. Still, the numbers you posted show he has 36 goals per 82 game pace is actually surprising didn't realize it was that high over the past 100ish games, thought it would go down with this year him not scoring as often.

Surprisingly he is still scoring at a 32 goal pace this year. Felt like he was in the mid-20s but he has the same number of goals as Marner. He has had a few extended goal slumps this year versus last year which may have led to me thinking his pace was down a fair amount. 37 vs 32 goal pace last two years so not much off a difference all things considered, perhaps internal bias and my expectations were too high coming into this year. 30 goals is definitely a good finisher, so I take back that statement. He is a finisher but he can become a elite finisher and top 5 goalscorer in the league if he progresses his shot a bit further
 
Am I the only one who thinks his skating looks not only quicker over these last 10-ish games but his endurance seems better too??
 
ER89 said:
I am a huge nylander guy. But I fail to see why he can't do what he did yesterday more often. Even when Willy sits back he is fairly effective but if he takes the game on he becomes an absolute force. Skills he is as good as they get.
Click to expand...
Ya i'd say thats my feel as well. I will never pretend to be a "Nylanderthal". But I have been a supporter of his throughout his career. He always frustrated me not because I think he is a bad player, exact opposite. I really think his skill level is off the charts. Last night was a prime example of that. He can flat out take over games. Till this point has been far too infrequent from what I'd ideally like to see. I will say, he seems to have responded really well to that brief benching in MTL. He has been all over the puck since then. Yesterday especially, he had Matthews level puck retrieval. Such a treat to watch when he is going like that
 
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Oscar Peterson said:
Am I the only one who thinks his skating looks not only quicker over these last 10-ish games but his endurance seems better too??
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nope, not at all. He looks to me like he is far more engaged. The skating I think is a byproduct of that. I think he always had good speed with the puck, but he tended to skate into the corners and curl back up to the point. He is driving to the net way more as of late, and most importantly his play away from the puck is way harder. I swear he forced like 5-10 jet turnovers in the O-zone last night alone just by moving his feet. I think he is realizing that the offence gets better when you play better away from the puck. Same as it has done for Matts and Marner. You end up playing with the puck more, and when you play with the puck more you generate more pts. Simple game :laugh:
 
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