The Toronto Maple Leafs have furthered bolstered their organizational depth by making a couple of signings for the AHL Toronto Marlies team – and one of those players is a returning sibling.
Announced by the team this week, the Marlies have signed Alex Nylander, William’s brother, to a one-year AHL contract. In addition to the younger Nylander brother getting to stay in Toronto, the Marlies also signed forwards Brandon Baddock and Luke Grainger to one-year AHL contracts, as well.
✍️ NEWS | We’ve signed forwards Brandon Baddock, Luke Grainger and Alex Nylander pic.twitter.com/tqCtii6UBT
— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) August 4, 2025
After going through several NHL organizations ever since he was selected eighth overall by the Buffalo Sabres all the way back in 2016, Nylander seems to have found more stability in Toronto. After playing 28 games split between the Penguins and the Blue Jackets during the 2023-24 season, Alex Nylander decided to come and stay close to his brother and the Maple Leafs signed him to a one-year NHL contract.
Nylander proceeded to score 23 goals and 44 points in 64 games for the Marlies and even play a total of five games for the Leafs last season. And now he will be coming back to be another veteran on the Marlies roster that is going to have some interesting rookies on it like forwards Landon Sim and Borya Valis – and that’s not even mentioning the possibility of Easton Cowan not making the Leafs out of training camp and starting the season in the AHL.
The Marlies have quickly created a little bit of a logjam at the forward position, but it will most likely sort itself out with the ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones getting to add some worthwhile players.
With Nylander signing an AHL-only contract, he will not take one of the Leafs’ 50 contract slots, which currently stands at 45. That gives Toronto more flexibility in their organization without having to tie up contracts to players who they don’t think should even be considered for an NHL job.
The Maple Leafs did a solid enough job adding more depth this offseason that they most likely won’t need Nylander to join his older brother on the Maple Leafs. If they end up wanting Alex in the NHL, they will just need to sign him to an NHL contract first.
It’s nice to see some brothers staying in Toronto.