Maple Leafs forward William Nylander has been out with a groin injury but he found a way into headlines on Sunday, after making an obscene gesture at a TSN camera during his team’s loss against the Colorado Avalanche.Steve Roberts/Reuters
If the Toronto Maple Leafs were looking for a distraction from simply standing by and watching as their season circles the drain, William Nylander certainly gave them one on Sunday.
His one-fingered salute caught on camera presented a momentary hiatus from the team’s free fall, with the Leafs having taken just one point from the eight available in their current five-game home stand which ends with Tuesday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.
By Monday morning though, the team’s leading scorer – who has missed the last five games with a groin injury – had fallen back in line with the rank and file and was wheeled out first following practice to issue his mea culpas.
“First off, I just to want to apologize for my actions yesterday,” he said. “It was out of frustration, so I’m sorry about that.”
Though he couldn’t – or wouldn’t – say who the finger was directed at, other than in the general direction of frustration over both the team’s current tailspin and his injury woes, he said it didn’t take long for him to realize that he had stepped out of line.
“Yeah, sitting there, I got a text message [about the gesture],” he added. “I was like, ‘Oh, not a good idea. Not a good thing to do.’ But yeah, like I said, I apologize about that.”
The National Hockey League took a little more than 24 hours to officially slap the Leafs star on the wrist, handing him a US$5,000 fine Monday night for his violation of the league’s policy on the use of obscene, profane or abusive language or gestures in the game.
Teammate Matthew Knies, who said he wasn’t really sure what Nylander was doing, admitted it was a timely reminder that when you play in Toronto, you are always under the microscope, both on and off the ice.
“For sure. I didn’t really think that that would get much traction,” he said. “Again, I didn’t think he meant it in a threatening way at all. It just kind of happened, but, yeah, it definitely shows you how much publicity we get being on the Maple Leafs, so you just got to be careful.”
On the ice, Nylander has been a reliable contributor for the Leafs. Despite his injuries, he still leads the team in scoring, as their up-and-down season has them currently outside of the playoff picture.Chris Gardner/Getty Images
While head coach Craig Berube said Nylander had made a “mistake,” he said his player’s frustration stems in part from the injuries he has suffered this season, ailments that have cost him 15 games so far. That’s a departure from the norm for the Swedish star, who played all 82 games the past three seasons, and four times in his nine full seasons in the NHL.
“Willy’s gone a long time in his career without missing games,” Berube said. “It’s been different this year for him, so it’s something new that he’s going through, and it’s hard for a player and he wants to be out there. He came back and reinjured it again pretty quickly. So it is frustrating.”
How the Leafs would love to have Nylander making headlines on the ice rather than off it right now. Three times in the current five-game homestand they have spotted the opposition two-goal, first-period leads, and have emerged pointless at the end of each of those contests. The game against Buffalo – currently six points above Toronto in the standings – is the team’s last home game until it welcomes Ottawa on Feb. 28.
“It’s tough, right?” Berube said. “We’ve come home in this home stretch, and, other than the Detroit game, we’re down by two or three in the first period. And that’s a mental grind on everybody. … But we got to overcome it. We got to fight through it.”
Now five points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference before Monday night’s games, the team will embark on a four-game western road swing after Tuesday’s matchup with Buffalo, which will take the team right up to the Olympic break on Feb. 6.
Nylander, who originally reinjured his groin during his first shift in the 6-5 overtime loss at Vegas 11 days ago, is hopeful he can return at some point on that trip. As a player who is every bit as vital for Team Sweden as he is for the Maple Leafs, there is a lot riding on Nylander getting his mind and body straightened out to be ready for the rigours of being a professional athlete once again.
“Yeah, I mean, it [would] obviously [be] nice to get into a game before heading over there,” he said. “But I want to be back as soon as possible to be playing here and hopefully get some wins before heading over to the Olympics.”