Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
The Maple Leafs dropped another game last night and some post-game comments from William Nylander show the surprising stance he’s taking on the team’s recent struggles.
The Maple Leafs are almost all the way through the month of November and have compiled a very disappointing 9-10-3 record, and now one of their top stars is taking a puzzling stance on the team’s inefficiencies this season.
William Nylander is having a career year in 2025-26, and while individual stats shouldn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, it’s tough not to applaud his efforts through the quarter mark of the season.
Nylander Takes Puzzling Stance on Leafs’ Struggles
Despite his personal success, his team is struggling right now, but Nylander’s stance on those struggles is a bit of a head-scratcher. Rather than expressing a sense of urgency to turn things around, Nylander seems content with where the team is at, in a bit of a “character building” phase.
I think this builds character. So, obviously it’s tough right now, but in the end I think it’ll be good for our group.
Things Go From Bad to Worse With Yet Another Injury to a Top-4 Defenseman
Following the game, head coach Craig Berube could not provide a timeline on McCabe, but with Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo already sidelined, this means that half of the Leafs’ regulars on the blueline are currently out of the lineup — including all 3 of their top defensive defensemen.
Reinforcements on the Way
The good news is that both Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies have been skating, so there should be some offensive weapons returning to the lineup very soon. Of course, that’s only a silver-lining, because the teams’ issue hasn’t been putting pucks in the net, but rather keeping pucks out of their own net.
Nylander has always been calm, cool and collected, so it’s hard to envision him laying into his group and trying to snap them out of a funk — especially when injuries are playing a very large role in the team struggles. Still, it’s tough to stomach the optimism from one of the team’s leaders when things are going so poorly at the moment.
Previously on Toronto Hockey Daily