Toronto Maple Leafs: William Nylander Will Surprise in the Playoffs

With the regular season over for the Toronto Maple Leafs, now is the time to start getting overly excited about the Stanley Cup Playoffs – not that we weren’t before, but at least now it’s socially acceptable.

We all have a good idea of which players on the Toronto Maple Leafs roster will be remarkable, and Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner have to be named, of course.

But, someone that comes to mind when I think of surprises is William Nylander. And yes, I mean pleasant surprises. Mark my words, Nylander will do wonders in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Not only has he shown that he is a valuable member of the team, but his chemistry with John Tavares is undeniable, and no matter who plays on the left-wing will only make it that much stronger.

 Nylander Makes the Toronto Maple Leafs a More Dangerous Team

Nylander has amassed 17 goals and 25 assists, totaling 42 points in 51 games played this season. His points against Montreal rank third in points split against each team (behind Edmonton and Vancouver respectively). (stats from nhl.com).

The right-winger has three goals and four assists (seven points) in eight games played against Montreal this season. If Nylander can just do the same thing against Montreal in the playoffs, it would be more than enough. But, I wouldn’t be shocked if he truly delivered an exceptional performance.

Although he didn’t collect any points in his last game, he was on an eight-game point streak before that. He has been consistent for most of this season. The one exception is in February when he struggled for a few games. But everyone struggles from time to time. We can’t judge a player’s skills based on his struggles.

There is no denying it, the Leafs are heading to the playoffs with a lot of expectations: to sweep the Habs, win the Cup, and the list goes on and on. But that might just be the thing that will bring their performance to the next level and will make Nylander’s success that much more enjoyable.

The 25-year-old has also received a lot of undeserved criticism, mostly due to his contract, and although his numbers could be better, I believe he brings something else to the ice that can’t be calculated.

He was injured earlier this season and didn’t play for five games, and the Leafs lost three of these five games. While that’s not significant enough to tell if they lost because he wasn’t playing, I always notice something missing when Nylander isn’t on the ice.

To me, Nylander is the player that people want to perform well but don’t necessarily expect to, and that just makes him so much more dangerous because you never know when and where Nylander is going to attack.

And I absolutely cannot wait for this pleasant surprise in the playoffs.