Toronto Maple Leafs: William Nylander Heading to the Worlds

William Nylander will represent the Toronto Maple Leafs at the World Championships this month after an uncharacteristically poor NHL season.

Nylander signed a six-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs two months into the regular season and proceeded to put up some less-than-pleasing numbers.

Could this stint at the world championships be exactly what he needs?

The 2018-19 season was not nice to 23-year-old. Sure, he signed on for the next half-decade at $6.9 million per, but his underwhelming 27 points and the criticism (and trolling) thrown his way don’t exactly scream “Welcome home, Willy!”

They don’t, however, scream “We don’t need you!”

We do need him, and we want him. It’s easy to say he isn’t worth the money, but the Nylander we hoped for isn’t gone. He had 130 shots in the regular season – his more impressive stat. Nylander may have had 50+ more last year but, hey, he didn’t play the whole season.

Opinions on the contract negotiations aside, Nylander wasn’t at training camp, and therefore wasn’t in Toronto before signing late and taking a chunk off of his 2018-19 run. Heading to Slovakia for the 2019 IIHF Men’s World Hockey Championship this week extends his season and gets him the extra time he needs to get back to where he was.

Keep It Going

It was just a few days ago Nylander decided to join Team Sweden. He may have been born in Calgary but most of his minor hockey career took place in his father’s homeland, and this won’t be his first time sporting yellow for a world championship either.

In the 2017 tournament, Nylander put up 7 goals and 7 assists in 10 games for Sweden. He not only walked away with a gold medal, but with the best plus/minus, the most goals and an MVP title, as well.

Nylander’s 2014 U18 stretch didn’t look that different. With 6 goals and 10 assists in 7 games, Nylander was named Best Forward, earned the best plus/minus, and produced the most assists and most points.

That sounds more like the Nylander that the Toronto Maple Leafs know and need.

Willy plays well in these tournaments and on international ice. He’s played and won with the likes of Nicklas Backstrom, Victor Hedman and Henrik Lundqvist. Many players from that 2017 gold medal team will be returning this year – save for Backstrom and Hedman due to injury.

One of the most talked about rookies of the 2018-19 season, Elias Pettersson, will join Team Sweden following a 66-point year with the Vancouver Canucks. He won gold at the tournament in 2018 with Nylander absent. Back in January, Nylander told Sportsnet that Pettersson’s season so far was “amazing,” and now they’ll be playing together.

This could be exactly what Nylander needs heading into the offseason – an opportunity and push to be better. His return to the Toronto Maple Leafs this coming fall could very well be more anticipated than last season’s now that we know with near certainty he’ll be back and that there’s a lot for him to work on.

This is his chance to redeem himself.

Sweden’s first game is Friday at 2:15 p.m. against the Czech Republic. And just for good measure, because most of us are good old Canadian Leafs fans, Canada’s is Friday at 10:15 a.m. against Finland.