The Toronto Maple Leafs have seen better seasons. The team that ended the 2024-25 season at the top of the Atlantic Division has sunk to the very bottom of the standings. Consistently plagued with injuries, the Maple Leafs have lost six of their past nine games, raising pressing questions about the team’s overall health.

Moreover, a team’s standout performer is not performing as everyone expected him to, adding more insult to the injury. The downfall has prompted Nick Kypreos to speak up.

Former NHL Player Comments on the Maple Leafs’ William Nylander’s Recent No-Show

With Mitch Marner’s exit, a shell of the Maple Leafs’ formidable Core-Four remains. William Nylander was expected to rise to the occasion and assume a greater-than-ever responsibility after Marner left Toronto to join the ranks of the Vegas Golden Knights.

Former NHL executive Pierre McGuire had fully expected the winger to reach stratospheric levels in the 2025-26 season, but after many games, it has been relatively quiet on that front.

Nylander’s four-point feat against the Pittsburgh Penguins is not lost on anyone, but it came after a painfully long period of goal drought that stretched over 11 games. The Golden Puck awardee had seemingly failed to rescue his team from falling into the slump, and worse, is not confident about where he stands. So adverse are things that former NHL player Nick Kypreos almost fails to recognize Nylander in his current state.

“I don’t even recognise him like this, right, because there was a strut, there was a mojo, and it seems a little lost right now. He’s the first to admit it,” Kypreos commented during a conversation with Elliotte Friedman.

After the defeat at the hands of the Dallas Stars, Nylander had admitted his true feelings in the wake of an unnaturally long period of zero goals. “I don’t know if I’ve felt like this before. If I had a stretch like this, I’m not sure. I don’t feel like I’ve had that in the NHL, at least.”

A bad game is one thing and, arguably, not very difficult to remedy. However, a lack of confidence can be more challenging to address. On that subject, Kypreos believes that the team must come together to solve this issue before it is too late.

“This is where he’s got to go back to his line mates, and the line mates got to go in and talk to him, whether it’s Tavares, even Matthews. I know Matthews might have a confidence issue, but he’s wearing the C. He’s got to go and say we’re in this together, and you know, we’re gonna get you the puck. We’re gonna find ways to get you going again.”

Nylander, who is currently in the second year of his eight-year, $92 million contract, remains a key element of the Maple Leafs roster. He is capable of sheer greatness, as evidenced by his performance against the Penguins. The team, led by Captain Auston Matthews, needs to come together and find a way to stay in the fight and pull the Leafs out of their current state.