Toronto Maple Leafs: NHL Comeback Player of the Year

The Toronto Maple Leafs may not be having the best season.

Injuries, a coaching change, more injuries, bad goaltending, even more injuries and a loss to a zamboni driver – it’s been quite the year for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been bright spots.

And of those bright spots (Matthews Hart-worthy season, the team’s play under Sheldon Keefe) it is the ascension of William Nylander to the upper echelons of the NHL’s elite that has been the brightest.

William Nylander is the comeback player of the year.

Toronto Maple Leaf and William Nylander

Despite leading or being near the top of the NHL last season in scoring chances created per minute, puck possession and zone entries, William Nylander had a rough year.

His two most common line-mates scored below expected 4th line rates, while his personal and on-ice shooting-percentages hit rock bottom (something a player has no control over).

The goals and points were down, and despite extremely strong peripheral numbers, Nylander had just signed a new and (seemingly) expensive contract.  People just were not interested in looking deeper into his game.

Though he filled in admirably at 3C during the playoffs, and though the team always did better when he was on the ice, he was labeled as having a “bad season.”

It snowballed through the summer, and by the time the Toronto Maple Leafs started playing in October, many fans were calling for Nylander to be traded or (and this is hilarious) waived.

Leafs fans never let you down, that’s for sure.

But in spite of the negative press – and the mainstream media led by biased observers like Brian Burke – took every shot they could.

But Nylander had the last laugh.

Nylander scored his 30th goal of the season last night, a night after having nine shots on net.  It was his 58th point of the year and he’s on his way to smashing his career high.

Once considered by his critics to be a “soft” perimeter player, Nylander is one of the NHL’s leaders in the category of net-front goals.  The last time I checked, he had more ‘power forward’ type goals than any other player in the NHL.

67 NHL forwards have played at least 900 5v5 minutes this year.  Nylander is 7th among them in puck-possession.  He is ninth in shots-for percentage. 15th in expected goals percentage.  (all stats naturalstattrick.com).

11th in scoring chances for percentage.  13th in high-danger chance percentage.  His 2.35 p/60 is elite and more than Ovechkin, Scheifele, Eichel Hall, Laine or Tavares.

Overall, in all situations, his points/60 is ranked 37th among all forwards who’ve played 900 minutes.  When you consider he is his team’s 4th scoring option on the power-play, this is impressive.

Nylander has 30 goals and that’s good for 15th overall in the NHL.  His 58 points are good for 39th.  Remember though, that Nylander has extremely strong underlying numbers and isn’t just a one-dimensional offensive threat.

He has become one of the very best players in the NHL.  William Nylander is the comeback player of the year.