There is a whole lot of heat around Toronto Maple Leafs winger William Nylander and the temperature was cranked tenfold during one single goal against while hosting the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.
In the early minutes of the third period with the game tied 2-2, the Wild were racing up the ice. Ryan Hartman took control of the puck and entered the zone along the right boards, dropped it off for Matt Boldy, who was gifted acres of space in the Leafs' zone. And who gave him that space? Nylander.
MATT BOLDY HATTY ALERT 🧢🚨 pic.twitter.com/iEkKuHpv2a
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 13, 2026
We are genuinely baffled as to what Nylander is doing here on this goal. He has his stick out to pressure Hartman a bit but as the Wild forward cut into the middle of the ice, he did get turned around a little bit while trying to do a bit of a hold.
But instead of then rushing in to pressure Boldy, the actual player with the puck, he just casually glides backwards. No effort to skate anywhere and looks like he's out for a public skate at Nathan Phillips Square. And by doing so, he actually creates a bit of a pick on defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who didn't realize what was happening until way too late. He did try to interrupt the shot as Boldy streaked towards goalie Anthony Stolarz, but it wasn't even close.
It is impossible to think why Nylander would do this. That's Matt Boldy, a U.S. Olympian and someone who has established himself as one of the best two-way forwards in the game. Oh, and he already scored twice in the game. He's looking for a hat trick, of course he's going to go towards the net and shoot the puck. Why would you back off? Why would you even think about not skating anywhere?
Nylander already facing major criticism for his season
The saddest thing is that this is not all that surprising for Nylander this season. His lack of effort during this horrible stretch of Maple Leafs hockey has been noticeable and so many fans are calling him into question. Sure, he can score some points but if you're waiting to get the puck to actually make an impact on the game, that's not how hockey games are won.
The Leafs ended up losing to the Wild by a score of 5-2 and it was a game that many were declaring a must-win game. After a bad loss to the Colorado Avalanche earlier this week, the Leafs had lost four straight games. Now, with this one to make it five, it expands it to also having just one single win in their last eight game. And who did they get that win against? It was the Vancouver Canucks, who are no doubt the worst team in the NHL right now.
We have no idea what the future holds for this team or for William Nylander at this point, but the coverage on that goal is simply inexusable.
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