5 Early Season Positives For The Toronto Maple Leafs

Other Stars of the Toronto Maple Leafs Are Also Excelling

Another star player dealing with extension talks is William Nylander. Constant offseason chatter around his situation has not affected his play.

Before the season, Nylander did not offer concern about his contract. General manager Brad Treliving even commented about Nylander’s relaxed attitude.

Should Nylander continue his torrid start to the season, he will have no problem getting his rumored $10 million AAV on his next deal.

Nylander has continued his stellar play with the puck and has eliminated his penchant for maddening mental errors.

He is right behind Matthews in goals scored, as expected, plus delivering as a playmaker.

Nylander and his usual centre, John Tavares are pushing back on the narrative that they lack chemistry. Both are among the early NHL point leaders.

As Tavares enters his next-to-last season on his contract, he appears reinvigorated. He has been dogged on the forecheck and net-front battles, both at 5 vs 5 or on the power play.

Tavares’ play is going to be a critical factor in the Toronto Maple Leafs fortunes for the next two years. Fair or not, he will be judged based on his $11 million AAV.

If he and Nylander can maintain their offensive production with minimal defensive issues, the Leafs will greatly benefit as it takes some pressure off of Matthews and Mitch Marner.

Their contributions are more important since Marner is playing below his standard at the moment.

Nylander and Tavares are also part of the Leafs sizzling power play. The Leafs already highly regarded power play has improved from prior years, converting at a 35% clip.

That increased special-teams production will accumulate more points in the standings, helping with potential playoff seeding.