Toronto Maple Leafs star William Nylander is proving to be one of the best players in the NHL.
William Nylander missed the beginning of last season while in a contract dispute with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Upon his return to the lineup in December, he meshed an understandable month-long slump (as he got up to NHL speed) with a three month-long run of bad luck that put his stock among Leafs fans in the toilet.
Despite a team high possession rating, stats that put him among the league leaders in zone entries and exits, and leading the NHL in on-ice scoring chances per minute, Nylander’s season was done in by bad linemates and an obscenely low shooting percentage. ( All stats naturalstattrick.com).
The fact that the numbers beyond goals and assists pointed to Nylander being an elite player makes his so-called comeback year a surprise to no one.
Just kidding, some people were so certain he was going to be a bust that they came up with a litany of untrue complaints about him.
Nylander Myths Busted
First they said he couldn’t hit the net.
Turns out Nylander has the most accurate shot among the Toronto Maple Leafs big four, having missed the net 22.4% of the time. Matthews has missed the net 26.8% of the time, Marner 24.2%, Tavares 33% of the time.
(These stats are from a really fun tool over at mapleleafshotstove.com, make sure to check it out).
Then they said Nylander was a perimeter player who wouldn’t go to the net.
Well:
William Nylander scores his 20th goal of the season.
— Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyNHL) January 15, 2020
16 have come from this net-front area, which is 2nd most by any player in the NHL. pic.twitter.com/QmOYH6wxjY
Pretty weird how this so-called perimeter player is outscoring the league’s power forwards in net-front goals. If you follow the link to the previously mentioned shot tool, you can see that Nylander in fact shoots the vast majority of his shots from in close.
Another thing they said Nylander couldn’t play defense.
Let’s not kid ourselves: he does occasionally get lazy on the back-check, something that led to a benching last month. But as far as offensively gifted players go, his defense is above average and the defensive results are pretty decent.
When Nylander is on the ice, the Leafs get 55% of the shot-attempts and 54% of the expected goals. He may not be great at actual defense, but he tilts the ice in a way that he doesn’t need to be. A better defensive player with lower percentages would allow more goals over time than Nylander.
His won’t win the Selke, but his defense pretty good, and certainly no worse than Matthews, Tavares or Marners.
What Nylander is, is an elite 5v5 point producer who is among the games best scoring chance creators, the best zone entry players, and the best play drivers. This is indisputable.
Since Sheldon Keefe took over, Nylander has 24 points in 24 games.
His 28 5v5 points on the season rank him 15th in the NHL. That is more than supposed Hart Trophy candidate Jack Eichel. It’s more than Point, Kucherov or Ovechkin.
Nylander has 14 5v5 goals, tied with Ovechkin, Kane, McDavid and MacKinnon.
His 20 goals overall rank him 19th in the NHL.
His 41 points rank him 33rd in the overall scoring race, though it’s worth pointing out that he was not on the first power play unit for half the games so far.
So in conclusion, the entire NHL media and most of the Toronto Maple Leafs fans were wrong about William Nylander. It turns out he’s not one dimensional, not a perimeter player, not bad defensively and not an inaccurate shooter.
Is he soft? Well how could a player continuously be among the best on-ice scoring chance creators in the NHL if he was.
William Nylander may not be on the level of Tavares, Marner and Matthews. But then again, he might actually be. The stats would definitely suggest so.
Consider all Nylander myths busted. B