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Maple Leafs forward William Nylander is on pace this season to break Daniel Sedin’s Swedish OT goals record, and putting him atop some of the country’s greatest.In the annals of NHL history, there are few more dominant in history together than Henrik and Daniel Sedin, the Swedish twins who were forces to be reckoned with and had an entire career spent playing alongside each other.
Always a fun debate over who was the better brother (Daniel can at least hold the fact he was the 2nd overall pick, while Henrik was 3rd), both were incredible and deserve their Hall of Fame inductions.
However, there’s one Swedish phenom currently taking the league by storm, that being William Nylander. He’s quickly risen up the ranks as one of the the world’s best, and his perennial 45+ goal scoring ability is just a facet of his overall talent.
The Historic Record Nylander Is Chasing
But it seems the clutch gene runs through Scandinavia, and some new stats show that Nylander is on the brink of making some pretty significant history.
According to the NHL’s PR account on X, Nylander is only four goals away from passing Daniel Sedin for most overtime winners by a Swedish player.
Sedin had 16 OT winners in 1,306 career games, meanwhile Nylander has 13 in only 685 games.
Why Surpassing Sedin Matters for Nylander’s Legacy
It’s quite remarkable that through all the incredible Swedish players that came through like Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin, Markus Naslund, Daniel Alfredsson and Henrik Zetterberg; it’s Nylander who is likely going to rise above them all.
It’s an incredible amount of growth for Nylander, who went from having some consistency issues with flashes of brilliance, into a reliable and dependable 40+ goal scorer every season.
To be named as the most clutch Swedish player of all-time is no small feat, and the legacy of Sundin in Toronto is legendary, so it can only be seen where Nylander ends up at the end of his career.
If he can win a Stanley Cup, reach 500 goals, 1,000 points or some combination of them he’ll be a surefire Hall of Famer and follow in Sundin’s footsteps as one of the greatest Maple Leafs ever.
But for now, his goal remains to pass Sedin and cement himself as the go-to guy in OT, and it seems like a matter of when, not if, he’ll break the record this year.
Previously on HockeyPatrol
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Maple Leafs’ William Nylander Could Soon Surpass Daniel Sedin
Will Nylander break Sedin’s record this season?