The Toronto Maple Leafs are having a somewhat normal start to their season. A couple disappointing performances against the Detroit Red Wings, but then a dominating win over the lowly Nashville Predators. Balance before the season truly gets going. But of course, some drama had to happen just before the fifth game of their campaign.
At Thursday's morning skate before the Leafs lace up to take on the visiting New York Rangers, there was no sign of William Nylander. Every single beat reporter, seemingly at the same time, realized that the top Toronto winger was absent from the typical practice ahead of that night's game.
And even as The Toronto Sun's Terry Koshan points out, Nylander is typically one of the first Leafs skaters on the ice.
No sign of Nylander, usually one of the first #Leafs on the ice, at the morning skate.
— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) October 16, 2025
At the time of writing, there is no explanation as to why Nylander is missing. There was no obvious injury during Monday's game against the Predators and by the looks of the practice lines, head coach Craig Berube doesn't appear to be concerned that the star winger will be missing Thursday's game against the Rangers.
According to TSN's Mark Masters, the typical line of John Tavares, William Nylander, and Matias Maccelli this season is not going to be massively changed. In Nylander's place is Steven Lorentz and no disrespect to the fourth-line grinder, but he is, well, a fourth-line grinder and would almost certainly not be in an actual NHL game in the Leafs' top six and next to John Tavares of all centermen.
The other three forward lines are as expected -- Auston Matthews with Matthew Knies and rookie Easton Cowan; Max Domi centering Nick Robertson and Bobby McMann; and with Scott Laughton's ongoing injury, Nicolas Roy is manning the fourth line between Dakota Joshua and the red-hot Calle Jarnkrok.
We will try to keep this updated once the explanation behind Nylander's absence is given by Berube after he meets with the media.