William Nylander

[saffronleaf]

While he may not be the best of this iteration of the leafs (matthews and marner are strong competition), he's always been my personal favorite. It's been a pleasure watching him grow over his career. He's always shown many flashes of brilliance, but over the past few years he's been putting it all together and showing that he's an elite player.

And importantly, he shows up in the playoffs.

 

[LeafEgo]

Nylander is All World good right now… if he keeps this up all series, we move on.

It would be tough to imagine we get to four wins without better performances from Matty and Mitch.

 

[sunstersun]

It's already ugly even strength, just imagine it without Willy.

Yikes.

 

[Gabriel426]

On Nylander's birthday, he gave himself the gift of three points.

On Marner's birthday, Nylander gave him the gift of three points for the team.

Rantanen with his 8 pts in last 2 games, Willie is pretty close with his 6 pts in last 2 games.

 

[Skullz]

Unreal player. What a joy it has been to watch Willy grow his game over the last decade. Elite in the postseason.

Also my favourite.

 

[pcruz]

It would be tough to imagine we get to four wins without better performances from Matty and Mitch.

Matthews absolutely ate Barkov's lunch all night long.
That line dominated, and Bob made 3 or 4 phenomenal saves on 34 alone.

Those 3 players keep doing this all series and this team is an absolute nightmare to beat.

Who do you put your top defensive players on?

Matthews the guy with a 69 goal season who has more goals of anyone in the NHL drafted a full 2 seasons before him.
Marner, the guy with 97, 99, 101 point seasons.
Nylander with back to back 90+ point seasons who is also leading the league in playoff points?


It's why some of us have been so hard on Willie, because he CAN do this via nothing but effort.
He's not playing above his potential, he's just playing TO it.

 

[Mr_Fun]

Willy is just rolling right now. If he keeps this play up, we have a good chance of a deep run.

 

[Mess]

Look who leads the playoffs in scoring.

 

[notDatsyuk]

But how does he get those shots in the postseason? I don't know man, I watch Willy with his dynamo passing, skating and shooting and think to myself the triple option is better than the single option. Especially without the lack of a signature spot making that single option harder to force.

This postseason alone, he's generated like 2-3 passes that you or I could have scored. That's a rare talent.

When Matty is healthy he has a better shot, but not by a lot.

More and more people are realizing that Willy is a better passer than Mitch.

He is easily the best skater and stickhandler.

 

[DopeyFish]

When Matty is healthy he has a better shot, but not by a lot.

More and more people are realizing that Willy is a better passer than Mitch.

He is easily the best skater and stickhandler.

nylander has always been a better "passer" as his skill for his passes is obscene but the difference is marner has better hockey IQ and puts the beneficiaries of his passes into better position, which is why marner gets an insane amount of assists.

nylander is more straight forward where he passes through players and marner is against the grain and kind of works on altering and manipulating defensive structure to his advantage.

they aren't competing here because it's purely complementary skills. they are both always the most dangerous players on their lines because they both control the game the second the puck hits their stick. willy is just flashier.

 

[notDatsyuk]

nylander has always been a better "passer" as his skill for his passes is obscene but the difference is marner has better hockey IQ and puts the beneficiaries of his passes into better position, which is why marner gets an insane amount of assists.

nylander is more straight forward where he passes through players and marner is against the grain and kind of works on altering and manipulating defensive structure to his advantage.

they aren't competing here because it's purely complementary skills. they are both always the most dangerous players on their lines because they both control the game the second the puck hits their stick. willy is just flashier.

I'm not sure about that.

Marner gets more assists because he plays with better players and passes more because he doesn’t have as good a shot.

It's not a matter of "puts the beneficiaries of his passes into better position" so much as the people he passes to are better at scoring.

Even at that, last year Willy had more primary points than Mitch at 5on5. Mitch had a lot more secondary assists, largely because he had better linemates.

 

[ruaware41]

nylander has always been a better "passer" as his skill for his passes is obscene but the difference is marner has better hockey IQ and puts the beneficiaries of his passes into better position, which is why marner gets an insane amount of assists.

nylander is more straight forward where he passes through players and marner is against the grain and kind of works on altering and manipulating defensive structure to his advantage.

they aren't competing here because it's purely complementary skills. they are both always the most dangerous players on their lines because they both control the game the second the puck hits their stick. willy is just flashier.

Saucer pass: Willy > Marner
Using vision/IQ for playmaking in more unusual unexpected ways: Marner > Willy

Just my opinion. The regular season stats back up Marner's playmaking. In the playoffs though maybe his style isn't as effective because teams play a lot tighter.

 

[GlitchMarner]

It's already ugly even strength, just imagine it without Willy.

Yikes.

To be fair, I think a lot of that domination came in the third, when FLA was trailing and pushing hard for a comeback.

TOR obviously outplayed them overall and at ES in the first period. FLA had about four shots and one PP goal.

The Leafs went into that shell in the third period.

I am worried that they spend too much time in their own end, though. They're better equipped to play there compared to previous playoffs, but only bad things can happen to you when the puck is in your end of the ice frequently.

The fourth line was a plus against OTT but had a rough game last night. FLA definitely has the better third line.

TOR's second line was able to put the Panthers on their heels and at a disadvantage early in the game. That's how that line needs to play.

 

[1specter]

To be fair, I think a lot of that domination came in the third, when FLA was trailing and pushing hard for a comeback.

TOR obviously outplayed them overall and at ES in the first period. FLA had about four shots and one PP goal.

The Leafs went into that shell in the third period.

I am worried that they spend too much time in their own end, though. They're better equipped to play there compared to previous playoffs, but only bad things can happen to you when the puck is in your end of the ice frequently.

The fourth line was a plus against OTT but had a rough game last night. FLA definitely has the better third line.

TOR's second line was able to put the Panthers on their heels and at a disadvantage early in the game. That's how that line needs to play.

Yep a lot of score effects. Leafs gave them very little until the third period. Also the Stolarz situation definitely affected them IMO and made them lose their composure a bit.

 

[arso40]

But how does he get those shots in the postseason? I don't know man, I watch Willy with his dynamo passing, skating and shooting and think to myself the triple option is better than the single option. Especially without the lack of a signature spot making that single option harder to force.

This postseason alone, he's generated like 2-3 passes that you or I could have scored. That's a rare talent.

Make no mistake Matthews is a triple threat too and a better overall player just bummed wrists right now I’d be the first to advocate for Willy but I won’t do it at the expense of destroying Matthews a healthy captain is a game breaker

 

[arso40]

I'm not sure about that.

Marner gets more assists because he plays with better players and passes more because he doesn’t have as good a shot.

It's not a matter of "puts the beneficiaries of his passes into better position" so much as the people he passes to are better at scoring.

Even at that, last year Willy had more primary points than Mitch at 5on5. Mitch had a lot more secondary assists, largely because he had better linemates.

Marner in my opinion does have a high iq and I agree with the posters description of the two players marners hellbent on passing hence Hes better at manipulating the defence to get the pass off where as Willy is a dual threat looking to take what’s given two highly skilled players but different

 

[thewave]

Forget the fact Nylanders thread has no Player discussion tag. Give him a hockey god tag for Pete's sakes.

 

[Tak7]

His smile is contagious, and amongst all the anger surrounding the Bennett / Stolarz thing, it's just nice to see him beaming on all the highlight shows this morning.

 

[thewave]

His smile is contagious, and amongst all the anger surrounding the Bennett / Stolarz thing, it's just nice to see him beaming on all the highlight shows this morning.

I remember saying when the kids were getting going under Babcock that he had the potential to be the best of the big 3.

For the moment, I would say that is the truth of 2024/2025.

 

[IPS]

One interesting wrinkle from Game 1: Even though Florida didn’t have last change, they consistently worked to get Seth Jones out against Tavares/Nylander rather than Matthews/Marner. You’d expect Barkov vs. Matthews and Jones to follow that line — but instead, Toronto got the Matthews matchup more often, while Florida leaned on Jones to check Tavares.

Jones allegedly did a phenomenal job shutting down Tampa's top line in their series, not so much against Willy though!

 

[The Shadow]

One of his best games. More engaged all game and not just floating waiting for chances.

They need this every night

 

[thewave]

One of his best games. More engaged all game and not just floating waiting for chances.

They need this every night

He looked like a legit $10m+ level star. Was nice to see.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Is there a better playoff performer on the Leafs?

 

[sunstersun]

Make no mistake Matthews is a triple threat too and a better overall player just bummed wrists right now I’d be the first to advocate for Willy but I won’t do it at the expense of destroying Matthews a healthy captain is a game breaker

Meh, I haven't seen it in the postseason more than a game a series. He was healthy in 2022, was that a gamebreaker series ? No, otherwise we would have won lmao.

Is there a better playoff performer on the Leafs?

Not even close. Produces with Kerfoot as his center when Tavares went down. Produces with Holmberg, Mcmann, Pats, declined Tavares, whatever we give him.

Since 2019, Willy is on 1.073 PPG pace in the postseason.

That's not the best part, which is already pretty great. His goal scoring is elite, at 0.537 goals per game.

44 goal pace in the postseason in 82 games. WOWZA. More importantly the eye test is matching the stats. The man is clutch. If we could get him a pass first defensive 2C ? A consistent LW? Just imagine the potential.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

This guy is a lion out there. William Lannister, first of his name, the kingslayer. The Kwisatz Haderach. Known to some as only Strider.