Toronto Maple Leafs: Is William Nylander the Leafs Best Defensive Forward?

The Toronto Maple Leafs can be a hard team to cheer for.

Once enough fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs make up their mind, that’s it.

I’ve seen us run Larry Murphy and Bryan McCabe out of town.

I’ve seen us try and fail to do the same with Jake Gardiner. (Sure, he eventually left, but only after eight season and becoming one of the best defenseman in franchise history).

I’ve seen us refuse to fully embrace Hall of Famer and best player to ever where the Toronto Maple Leafs uniform Mats Sundin, as well as should-be Hall of Famer Tomas Kaberle.

It is my hope that William Nylander eventually ends up in the Sundin and Kaberle camp, but who knows?

Despite being an outstanding player, a certain faction of the fan-base never gives him the credit he deserves.  We act like the centre of the hockey universe, and I think it looks bad on us to do this, but that is just my opinion – you’re welcome to yours.

Toronto Maple Leafs Best Defensive Player

Is William Nylander the Leafs best defensive player?

According to Mr. Burtch in a subsequent tweet, this is “impact of even-strength defending in terms of goals above or below a replacement level player.”

It’s interesting that Nylander would be best on the team, considering some of the things people say about him are that he is “soft,” “one dimensional,” and “bad defensively.”   Then again, maybe that isn’t surprising because if you’ve actually watched him play without any pre-determined bias, I think it’s pretty obvious that he’s a fantastic all-round player.  Seems obvious to me that if you’re going to hate a player this good, you’re going to be wrong about a lot of things.

The first indication that Nylander is strong defensively is his 57.7% possession rating, which leads the team (among players who’ve played all the games).  (Chart below from evolving-hockey.com).

In fact, this is the 8th best rating among forwards in the NHL (min. 225 minutes).  Only two players ahead of Nylander on this list are allowing less shots-against per 60 minutes. (All stats naturalstattrick.com).

If your team always has the puck when you’re on the ice, it stands to reason your defense will strong, because you won’t have to play it as much.  The best defense? A good offense.  You cannot be scored on when you have the puck.

On the Leafs, Kapanen and Tavares have allowed less shots-against/60 than Nylander, but he is producing up to seven shots an hour more than them, so his impact has been bigger.

Discounting the fourth line – extremely small sample – the Toronto Maple Leafs have allowed the least goals per minute while Nylander is on the ice.

So in addition to being one of the most elite offensive weapons in the NHL, William Nylander is also a defensive gem.  He is currently scoring 2.02 points/60 (behind only Matthews on the Leafs) which is a lot more than Tavares’ .88 or Marner’s 1.07.

In fact, Nylander is one of just 28 players in the NHL this year posting a points/60 above 2/60.

So it is indisputable that he is an elite 5v5 player – he is top 30 in the NHL in both offense and defensive stats.  This is a far cry from the player people keep saying “isn’t doing anything.”   At a certain point, you have to ask what is it about Nylander people don’t like.  Is it the holdout?  Weird then, since his contract is so obviously a bargain, and it’s not a year old.

I just don’t get it.  This is one of the best players the Toronto Maple Leafs have ever drafted and developed.

This whole Nylander thing truly is peak insanity. This would be like if half the fans of the Toronto Blue Jays decided they didn’t like Vlady Guerrero, or if half the Raptors fans decided that Pascal Siakam was no good.

What the Toronto Maple Leafs have in Nylander is a player who is elite in every facet of the game.  A player who clicks with their best player (Austom Matthews) in an almost super-natural way.

And even though I’d tend to think Alex Kerfoot is the Leafs best defensive forward, so far this year, that player is also William Nylander.   Given the way he scores at 5v5, one day he will get on the first power-play unit, and he will challenge for a scoring title.

Let’s not forget, he’s still one of the youngest players on the Leafs roster, and is just 23 years old.