William Nylander is better than this.
Much better.
We know because we’ve all watched as the Maple Leafs winger has put the puck on a string, set the pace of play in games and consistently frustrated opposing defences.
There hasn’t been much evidence of that from Nylander as the Leafs have stumbled to start the 2025-26 regular season. Be satisfied with the 40 shots on goal that the Leafs had on Thanksgiving Monday afternoon against the Detroit Red Wings if you want. It’s still a fall at the hands of the Wings, who completed a two-game sweep of Toronto with a 3-2 victory at Scotiabank Arena.
The loss, this one largely the result of the play of Wings goalie Cam Talbot, came less than 48 hours after the Leafs lost 6-3 in Detroit on Saturday.
Now, it’s going to be a confident Nashville Predators team in town to face the Leafs at SBA on Tuesday night, fresh off beating the Senators 4-1 in Ottawa on Monday.
Back to Nylander. There has been no carryover by the 29-year-old after he scored a career-high 45 goals last season. You can’t score if you’re not shooting the puck, and consider this: Before Nylander recorded two shots in the third period on Monday, he had only one in the previous eight periods. And that was into an empty net in the Leafs season-opening win against Montreal last Wednesday.
“We do need more out of him,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said late on Monday afternoon, in an understatement. “Willie needs more shots. He doesn’t have enough shots.
“He needs to attack more. He needs to shoot more. He’s got to get on the inside more.”
Nylander, not unlike the majority of the highly skilled players in the NHL, is at his best when he’s quick on his skates. It has been there in spurts, but the issue, as always, is doing it right all the time, or close to it. Whenever we might have been convinced that Nylander has worked inconsistencies out of his game, they pop up again.
“There are shifts and times where he is skating, but I just feel like it’s not enough,” Berube said. “I think it’s a little bit (because of) new linemates too.
“But I don’t know exactly what it is, to be honest with you. I’ll have a conversation with him and see where he’s at and what’s going on.”
Playing with new linemates and in turn having it impact your performance doesn’t pass muster here. Nylander and John Tavares don’t need to wear name tags on each shift and they had played with Bobby McMann before. Berube didn’t like the play of the line with McMann on it, so the switch was made to newcomer Matias Maccelli for Monday. Berube’s hope, that the line would have more puck touches with Maccelli on it, didn’t bear fruit against the Wings.
Yes, we’re keeping in mind that it’s just three games. The Leafs, though, already had a large offensive hole to try to fill with the departure of Mitch Marner. No one expected general manager Brad Treliving to acquire that kind of player. There was no one available.
STARS MUST BE BETTER
Nylander, naturally, would be counted on to raise his game. Ditto for Tavares and captain Auston Matthews.
The five-on-five production hasn’t been there for Tavares or Matthews either. For the latter, there has been a difference. Matthews leads the Leafs with 15 shots on goal and his line, with Matthew Knies and the addition of rookie Easton Cowan on Monday, was sharp. Cowan played like he has been doing this for a while, never mind that he was skating in his first NHL game.
The Leafs could have used a difference-maker in the third period against the Wings, especially after they tied the game on goals by Knies and Calle Jarnkrok.
Instead, Detroit won when Mason Appleton fired a shot past Anthony Stolarz in the final minute, immediately after Matthews blocked a shot by defenceman Ben Chiarot.
Nylander is going to get it right. He’s too good to not plant himself firmly in a groove and perform, and produce, at a steadily high level for the Leafs.
We just didn’t think we would having this conversation before the regular season was a week old.
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