William Nylander Discussion Thread

[hamzarocks]

Nylander is a much more well rounded player than Kessel ever was.

In the defensive zone yea but hes so far behind as an offense creator and line driver.

Nylander is an incredibly skilled and great player but Offensively kessel is much much ahead he is probably half a tier back of Marner. On the 2010-2015 leafs Nylander would be putting up Grabovsky like numbers with bozak as his 1C (mid 50s)

Kessel was an elite RW who played on some horrible teams, he got to the pens and proved in the 2 runs he can be the go to winger

 

[Notsince67]

Sheldon Keefe explained why he benched William Nylander later in the Maple Leafs’ win over the Canadiens, saying they started to play the way he wanted in the third and Nylander didn’t match that.
Keefe explains why he benched Nylander against the Canadiens - Sportsnet.ca
That's a miss on your memory there.
He wasn't playing the way the coach wanted ie protecting the lead so not cheating to get out of the zone etc
Don't see the word concistency at all so I literally don't know which quote you're talking about

Post game comment. Willy and consistency

 

[Notsince67]

He does not play defense better than Nylander and Nylander has never been given the chance to play the PK.

He has more points but he is not a better defensive player.

Yikes.
Isn't even close.
You think that Keefe is just not giving Willy a chance at PK for no reason? You really don't believe he has attempted it in practice?

 

[saltming]

Post game comment. Willy and consistency

Ahhh different quote than I was talking about obviously.
The original post you replied to I was asking another poster what they considered consistency so it really doesn't tie into what Keefe considers consistency but fair enough.
Again though keefes comment about his consistency he said what he does away from the puck which goes back to my original assessment.
There is a difference to lacking consistency in how one plays the game VS lack of effort as some posters are espousing

 

[Notsince67]

Ahhh different quote than I was talking about obviously.
The original post you replied to I was asking another poster what they considered consistency so it really doesn't tie into what Keefe considers consistency but fair enough.
Again though keefes comment about his consistency he said what he does away from the puck which goes back to my original assessment.
There is a difference to lacking consistency in how one plays the game VS lack of effort as some posters are espousing

Effort is definitely the wrong word. Perhaps lack of instinctual prioritization as laid out by the coach is a better descriptor.

 

[saltming]

Effort is definitely the wrong word. Perhaps lack of instinctual prioritization as laid out by the coach is a better descriptor.

I agree that seems to be an issue at times for wee Willie and his coaches

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Gents we all want to see Willy dominate games more often than he has this year to-date ... lets cut out da jams at Willy ... bottom line he needs to bring his A game more consistently ... if he ran even at last years numbers for game domination consistency then we would be having discussion about how he is a steal of an AVV like we did last season ... Keefer will figure things out with Willy and team will be better off for it ... keep on "bust da move" Willy from da big guy ... really nice to see it again last game

 

[ToneDog]

Gents we all want to see Willy dominate games more often than he has this year to-date ... lets cut out da jams at Willy ... bottom line he needs to bring his A game more consistently ... if he ran even at last years numbers for game domination consistency then we would be having discussion about how he is a steal of an AVV like we did last season ... Keefer will figure things out with Willy and team will be better off for it ... keep on "bust da move" Willy from da big guy ... really nice to see it again last game

Friedman once again brought up the Leafs looking for somebody to play with JT and Willie. The conversation then turned to Taylor Hall who has pretty much done nothing in Buffalo. A trade is coming sooner or later.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

Ahhh different quote than I was talking about obviously.
The original post you replied to I was asking another poster what they considered consistency so it really doesn't tie into what Keefe considers consistency but fair enough.
Again though keefes comment about his consistency he said what he does away from the puck which goes back to my original assessment.
There is a difference to lacking consistency in how one plays the game VS lack of effort as some posters are espousing

Effort is definitely the wrong word. Perhaps lack of instinctual prioritization as laid out by the coach is a better descriptor.

You guys are both right. I seen both but they weren’t on the same day. Both you are right. . Now myself on the other hand was proven wrong by Willy ha. I was/ am at end of my rope with Willy’s play this entire season. Glad he scored both. He needed it. 5 years later he shouldn’t be unaware of his strengths. He has strengths that are elite league wide and they were invisible. That the team is growing more defensive awareness as a identity could be the answer. Willy needs to find intensity. Thats the consistent thing i would like to see.
Tavares would be wise and his entire line including defensemen would be wise to hit him with speed quickly on rushes if they want to see a zone entry wizard raise our possession game in the right zone.
I’m not giving him a pass for a couple good games but i am happy for him.

 

[ShaneFalco]

I want to see the Nylander who said he'd be a force
He can be

 

[ShaneFalco]

Friedman once again brought up the Leafs looking for somebody to play with JT and Willie. The conversation then turned to Taylor Hall who has pretty much done nothing in Buffalo. A trade is coming sooner or later.

Buffalo - where players go to die

 

[ToneDog]

Buffalo - where players go to die

Pretty sad. Long gone are the days of the French Connection.

 

[Wiseguys]

The frustration with Nylander is not what he can do with the puck, he's engaged. It tends to be more what he can't do without the puck, he's not engaged.

 

[therealkoho]

Friedman once again brought up the Leafs looking for somebody to play with JT and Willie. The conversation then turned to Taylor Hall who has pretty much done nothing in Buffalo. A trade is coming sooner or later.

If Hall is motivated, although I'm not sure how 8m and being close to home hasn't motivated him. Hall has all the tools and a decent toolbox, he doesn't appear to be quite as reckless as he used to be, but his game has kind of gone off somewhere on it's own, all that talent and the slow slide since the trophy. I'd hate to think it, but is Jack Eichel the problem in Buffalo?

 

[Farsailor]

Both media and William have to improve. Thing with Willie is media/ and some fans treat him like he's a 10 million guy. And he himself doesnt seem to aknowledge that he has to improve in certain areas, he said something along with "yeah im used to that from you guys" like it wasnt a problem..

In more concerned with the team captain however. But also, tbh how many teams have more scoring from their second line this season? And Nylander & Tavares will hopefully get going again.

Also wanna say, i think Nylander is a guy that improves with responsability and ice time not the other way around. He plays like 2 minutes less a game this season.

 

[saltming]

You guys are both right. I seen both but they weren’t on the same day. Both you are right. . Now myself on the other hand was proven wrong by Willy ha. I was/ am at end of my rope with Willy’s play this entire season. Glad he scored both. He needed it. 5 years later he shouldn’t be unaware of his strengths. He has strengths that are elite league wide and they were invisible. That the team is growing more defensive awareness as a identity could be the answer. Willy needs to find intensity. Thats the consistent thing i would like to see.
Tavares would be wise and his entire line including defensemen would be wise to hit him with speed quickly on rushes if they want to see a zone entry wizard raise our possession game in the right zone.
I’m not giving him a pass for a couple good games but i am happy for him.

That line was really clicking with Simmonds on it and hasn't seemed the same since.
Chemistry is hard to find.
That said I agree that Willie has to reign in his offensive instincts at times and get on the game page as it develops during a game. As Keefe said, he needs to mature

 

[Judas Tavares]

Both media and William have to improve. Thing with Willie is media/ and some fans treat him like he's a 10 million guy. And he himself doesnt seem to aknowledge that he has to improve in certain areas, he said something along with "yeah im used to that from you guys" like it wasnt a problem..

In more concerned with the team captain however. But also, tbh how many teams have more scoring from their second line this season? And Nylander & Tavares will hopefully get going again.

Also wanna say, i think Nylander is a guy that improves with responsability and ice time not the other way around. He plays like 2 minutes less a game this season.

This gets overlooked I feel too. The Core 4 or whatever you want to call them. It seems like his salary gets lumped up with them. $7 Million is no small number, but it's also also essentially $4 Million and change less if you average out what the other 3 make. That is quite a difference. Sure he's not making Kerfoot money, but he's not way up there either.

A lot of players such as Laine, Dubois, Tkachuk, Boeser who would be considered similar to Willy, aka a high-end producer but not the team's top dog (or if they are, the team is going nowhere). These players will all need newer and more expensive deals while Willy will still have a couple left on his. His contract would look great then, unless Covid cheapens everything. And if so, well Dubas should have foresaw the pandemic. I mean if one happened in 1920 you'd figure he would be wise to another one 100 years later. Ok now I'm being silly, but some people out there you just don't know... They may actually believe that with how anti-Dubas they are.

 

[zeke]

RFA comparables since Keefe took over and they were freed from Babcock's sabotage:

82gm Paces:

McDavid (63gms): 43gls, 122pts, -8
Draisaitl (70gms): 43gls, 117pts, +0
Marner (62gms): 28gls, 104pts, +33
Pastrnak (59gms): 53gls, 104pts, +24
Matthews (67gms): 62gls, 103pts, +27
Connor (68gms): 49gls, 89pts, +13
Eichel (63gms): 33gls, 87pts, -1
Aho (66gms): 42gls, 83pts, +9
Point (69gms): 32gls, 83pts, +38
Laine (60gms): 42gls, 78pts, +7
Ehlers (68gms): 30gls, 74pts, +30
Nylander (66gms): 37gls, 72pts, -5
Rantanen (49gms): 35gls, 72pts, +4
Barzal (68gms): 21gls, 72pts, -3
Fiala (61gms): 34gls, 71pts, -5
Konecny (57gms): 30gls, 71pts, +4
Tkachuk (66gms): 24gls, 68pts, -4
Boeser (58gms): 27gls, 65pts, -4
Larkin (70gms): 20gls, 56pts, -33

 

[likecheese]

You guys are both right. I seen both but they weren’t on the same day. Both you are right. . Now myself on the other hand was proven wrong by Willy ha. I was/ am at end of my rope with Willy’s play this entire season. Glad he scored both. He needed it. 5 years later he shouldn’t be unaware of his strengths. He has strengths that are elite league wide and they were invisible. That the team is growing more defensive awareness as a identity could be the answer. Willy needs to find intensity. Thats the consistent thing i would like to see.
Tavares would be wise and his entire line including defensemen would be wise to hit him with speed quickly on rushes if they want to see a zone entry wizard raise our possession game in the right zone.
I’m not giving him a pass for a couple good games but i am happy for him.

Tavares and speed shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence, which seems to be much of the problem.
Not giving Willie a pass by any means but those two should be working out their issues on seperate lines.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

Tavares and speed shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence, which seems to be much of the problem.
Not giving Willie a pass by any means but those two should be working out their issues on seperate lines.

Tavares will get it going. He needs to loosen it up some. He is frustrated beyond reason

 

[Cobra777]

He son pace for 60 points (less goals but more primary assists vs the previous year) and his line is on the ice for considerably less goals against than the previous season.

Maybe this is an exaggeration on your part?

60pts, yea nice but points does not paint the picture in total of the kind of player he is. He is lazy and uninspired many nights and shy's away and bails in physical games and when teams play the trap and clog up the middle of the ice, he is unwilling to fight through that, too many people have witnessed this, all of us are not blind. This player I really liked at one time because he was a good force in AM's rookie yr. and the season after that. I remember when he was skating circles in the offensive zone seemed like for minutes with the puck on his stick and nobody could take it from him back then. After his hold out something changed even though not physical before he was however engaged and far more noticeable and an offensive threat with good skilled play those 2 seasons I mentioned. This season he was noticeable in the 1st MTL. game and the last one vs. Calgary with his 2 goals one being an ot. winner. Yea his goals were points, hero of that game but when he does not get points he brings absolutely nothing else and is rather invisible and plays non chalont which many nights I shake my head at the T.V during a game. Stats and points are helpful but do not paint the whole picture on the player.

Many people not just here witness what is a complaint against him. What is most sad is that he is a totally gifted skilled hockey player who if put a determination to his game could be a dominant force and would be dangerous and a threat most nights because he certainly can. He is 200lbs but plays like a total light weight playing the game like he is afraid of getting hurt.

 

[Menzinger]

60pts, yea nice but points does not paint the picture in total of the kind of player he is. He is lazy and uninspired many nights and shy's away and bails in physical games and when teams play the trap and clog up the middle of the ice, he is unwilling to fight through that, too many people have witnessed this, all of us are not blind. This player I really liked at one time because he was a good force in AM's rookie yr. and the season after that. I remember when he was skating circles in the offensive zone seemed like for minutes with the puck on his stick and nobody could take it from him back then. After his hold out something changed even though not physical before he was however engaged and far more noticeable and an offensive threat with good skilled play those 2 seasons I mentioned. This season he was noticeable in the 1st MTL. game and the last one vs. Calgary with his 2 goals one being an ot. winner. Yea his goals were points, hero of that game but when he does not get points he brings absolutely nothing else and is rather invisible and plays non chalont which many nights I shake my head at the T.V during a game. Stats and points are helpful but do not paint the whole picture on the player.

Many people not just here witness what is a complaint against him. What is most sad is that he is a totally gifted skilled hockey player who if put a determination to his game like AM has done this season would be dangerous most nights. He is 200lbs but plays like a total light weight playing the game like he is afraid of getting hurt.

I can understand criticisms of his engagement levels some nights - thats fair, and Keefe has obviously sought to crack down on that

What id reject though is the claim that he's useless when not scoring. His defensive numbers are way better than his previous season. He's one of thr best guys on the team at disrupting thr play in the neutral zone. So yeah, hes never going to be a guy who consistently grinds down pucks in thr corners, but thag doesn't mean he isn't contributing in other ways

 

[Cobra777]

This shows that the problem on the 2nd line was more JT then Willy. 1st line goes silent when JT got put there. Looks like the Nylander critics were wrong again.

We are not wrong for &^% sake most people see his fly by's and unwilling to dig hard for pucks and battles. Its noticed here and around the freakin hockey world, but we are all wrong got ya.
I'm not a Nylander hater, I was a huge fan of him and his play pre hold out, I had hoped he was gonna resign. However this unwillingness to have that strong determination post holdout has been noticed everywhere. He has the skills, skating, shot, stickhandling and a 200lb frame to really be a force but chooses the easy way most nights doing the minimum.

 

[Cobra777]

I can understand criticisms of his engagement levels some nights - thats fair, and Keefe has obviously sought to crack down on that

What id reject though is the claim that he's useless when not scoring. His defensive numbers are way better than his previous season. He's one of thr best guys on the team at disrupting thr play in the neutral zone. So yeah, hes never going to be a guy who consistently grinds down pucks in thr corners, but thag doesn't mean he isn't contributing in other ways

How can you be a good player contributing to your team when your engagement levels are questionable most nights?
I'm not a hater, I even overlook that he refuses to hit or take the body with his 200lb frame, what I can't overlook is that lazy disengaged levels that we agree on that were not apparent in the seasons his pre contract hold out. He was fantastic to watch back then and I was a huge fan when he would make the beauty plays and skate circles with that puck on his stick like a person possessed scoring highlight goals, he was more engaged game to game and always a threat when he stepped on the ice. I and many do not see much of that anymore he looks or seems to take the easy way lately and it concerns us fans who hope this team can soon put an end to a 50 plus yr. drought as well as over a 16 yr. 2nd round showing.

 

[Martin Skoula]

How can you be a good player contributing to your team when your engagement levels are questionable most nights?
I'm not a hater, I even overlook that he refuses to hit or take the body with his 200lb frame, what I can't overlook is that lazy disengaged levels that we agree on that were not apparent in the seasons his pre contract hold out. He was fantastic to watch back then and I was a huge fan when he would make the beauty plays and skate circles with that puck on his stick like a person possessed scoring highlight goals, he was more engaged game to game and always a threat when he stepped on the ice. I and many do not see much of that anymore he looks or seems to take the easy way lately and it concerns us fans who hope this team can soon put an end to a 50 plus yr. drought as well as over a 16 yr. 2nd round showing.

He can be napping in the corner half the game for all I care as long as he's scoring more than he's getting scored on.