Toronto Maple Leafs: Bizarre Lack of Power-Plays Hiding Star Making Season for William Nylander

The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t seem to ever get power-play opportunities.

While they do get some, it sure seems like that some nights.  The Toronto Maple Leafs have the 4th least power-play minutes per game in the NHL this year.

Since Shelden Keefe was hired, the Leafs are 31st in the NHL in PP minutes per game, with an astounding 1.5 minutes less than the 30th team.

They they have a winning record during this time is astounding.

The Leafs power-play isn’t great, but it is ranked 12th in goals per 60 minutes of ice time.  That’s OK at best, but once you factor in their 27th ranking in PP time, you can see how their lack of power-play goals has sabotaged their season. (All stats for this article naturalstattrick.com).

Basically, they aren’t getting opportunities and when they do, they are only converting at an average rate (which considering their personnel is pathetic).

The Oilers lead the NHL with 33 power-play goals, while the Leafs have just 19. (At least one of which was into an empty net).

Toronto Maple Leafs PP Hurting Star Production

William Nylander has 23 points in 33 games this season.  It’s a first line scoring rate, and nearly a 30 goal pace, but people do wonder if he’s as good as some are saying, why isn’t he closer to a point per game?

The reason is the lack of power-play opportunities.

Among players who have played 450 minutes, Nylander is 32nd in 5v5 scoring with 2.08 points per 60 (despite an on-ice shooting percentage 3-6% lower than his peers).

But just five of Nylander’s points have come on the power-play.

Partly this lower total is because the Leafs power-play (when it gets to go to work) has been average, partly it’s because Nylander has only been a mainstay on the 1st PP unit (other than as an injury replacement) since Keefe arrived, and partly it’s because other players (MacKinnon for example) have 50 or 60 more PP minutes than he does.

If the Leafs got a normal amount of PP’s and Nylander scored at his normal rate, he’d have approximately 11-15 powerplay points instead of five, and he’d be somewhere near a point per game, on pace for a very nice 82 points.

If he had 33 points, that’s 1 less than Kucherov and the same as Ovechkin.

The Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t getting any power-plays, and that fact is taking all the juice out of what should be William Nylander’s breakout season.

Be content, however, with the fact that he’s been one of the single best 5v5 players in the NHL this year.

Among forwards who have played 450 minutes, William Nylander is 12th in shot-attempts %, 13th in shots-for percentage, 37th in goals-for percentage, 25th in expected goals percentage, 18th in scoring chances for % and 9th in high danger scoring chances.

Eventually these stats are going to translate into more production and Nylander will be hailed league wide as the superstar we already know he is.