Drafting the Current Toronto Maple Leafs Roster In Their Prime

Seventh Overall Pick – William Nylander

With the seventh pick, William Nylander comes off the board one spot ahead of where Toronto Drafted the Swedish-Canadian in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Despite the undeserving criticism Bill receives online and from the media, he has been an analytics darling.

Take, for example, Nylander’s even-strength possession metrics. They’re excellent. Nylander on his career is averaging a Corsi For of 54.1 percent at even strength. That’s 3.9 points higher relative to his team. Those numbers look even better this season. He’s currently tied with his career-best even-strength Corsi For percentage of 55.7, which is 6.8 points above his team. (naturalstattrick.com).

Not only does Nylander have the ability to be explosive in his offensive output but he leads the Leafs in some specific areas. He actually led the entire NHL in net-front goals last season, exposing the myth that he’s a perimeter player.

The perception of Nylander is often skewed for a pair of reasons. The first is his salary. Due to the importance of the salary cap, judgments aren’t just made based on production and the value a player brings to their team. Instead, fans, pundits, and the media will consider a player’s on-ice performances relative to their cap hit. When Nylander signed his six-year, $45 million contract on Dec 1 of 2018, many were skeptical that he’d be worth that much. The analytics overwhelmingly shout that he is.

The other reason some look at Nylander sideways is because his point totals aren’t eye-popping. He has reached 61 points twice in his career on back-to-back seasons. Last year, he managed to hit his third-highest tally in his career with 59 points. What makes last season impressive is that 31 of those points came from goals he scored and he did it in only 68 games.