All these years, the Toronto Maple Leafs had been patiently waiting for the full potential of William Nylander to come out ever since he was drafted eighth overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
During his nine-year career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nylander has often shown flashes of brilliance and unmatched skill with his puck handling and release, but somehow he has always been overshadowed by the team’s other stars.
This year, that is not the case.
For the 2023-24 NHL season, Nylander has certainly taken his game to another level, or in fact, into another dimension that we didn’t know that existed.
Toronto Maple Leafs Winger William Nylander Has Taken His Game to Another Level This Season
Perhaps it just happens to coincide with his contract year, but nevertheless, Nylander has been by far and away the most dangerous Leafs player this season. Yes, you heard that right, even better than Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.
Not only are we seeing Nylander charging into the corners and get mauled by the opposition but somehow getting puck possession, he has been also taking bruising hits to set up plays and eventual goals as well.
In addition, he has been able to drive his line and raise the play of his linemates, in particular for the previously struggling Tyler Bertuzzi. More impressively, when the Leafs offence seemed to be generating nothing in certain games, Nylander is usually the one that steps up his game to give the team a chance to win, as seen in his recent game against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday in their thrilling 3-2 come-from-behind win.
At the same time, Nylander is also setting records in the process, as he is currently on a 16-game points streak since the beginning of the NHL season.
His current streak has broken the previous team record of eight games held by Frank Mahovlich, Larry McDonald and John Anderson, and is only one away from the league mark (among active players) of 17 set by Connor McDavid just a couple seasons ago.
On the season, Nylander is having the best season to date for his career, posting 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in just 16 games.
That is approaching McDavid territory, scoring at a rate of over 1.5 points/game. He has also dominated play and possession at 5-on-5 whenever he took the ice with a CF% of 57%, SCF% of 61%, and an expected goals rate of 58%. (All stats from naturalstattrick.com)
At the rate that he is going, Nylander could be the potential difference maker in helping the Leafs to finally break their Stanley Cup drought that has dragged on for over half a century now.
In doing so, hopefully the Leafs will still be able to keep him after this breakout season. But for now, we should all sit back and truly enjoy this version of Nylander that we had all been waiting for that has finally arrived.