{"id":429824,"date":"2026-01-27T01:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/429824\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T01:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:01:12","slug":"toronto-maple-leafs-william-nylander-fined-by-nhl-for-middle-finger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/429824\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Maple Leafs\u2019 William Nylander fined by NHL for middle finger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> star forward William Nylander<\/a> was fined $5,000 for putting up the middle finger during his team\u2019s 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche<\/a> Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

In a news release, the league said Nylander violated the league\u2019s policy which prohibits inappropriate and offensive remarks, and the use of obscene, profane or abusive language or gestures in the game.<\/p>\n

With the Leafs trailing the NHL-leading Avalanche 3-0 early in the third period, a TSN camera panned to an injured Nylander sitting in a box with teammates Chris Tanev<\/a>, Dakota Joshua<\/a>, Calle Jarnkrok<\/a> and Philippe Myers<\/a>. Nylander then briefly flashed his middle finger before the camera panned back toward the ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cNylander directed an inappropriate gesture at a television camera operator while the camera was directed at Mr. Nylander and his teammates in the press box. The gesture was shown live on-air during the game broadcast,\u201d said NHL senior vice president of player safety George Parros<\/a> in a news release. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis serves as a reminder the code of conduct governing Players extends throughout the arena at NHL games and in public game situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old apologized on Instagram after the game<\/a> and reiterated his apology when speaking with reporters on Monday<\/a>, saying frustration was the reason behind the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst off, I just want to apologize for my actions yesterday, it was out of frustration, so I\u2019m sorry about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What was Nylander frustrated about?<\/p>\n

\u201cJust not playing and want to be out there with the guys. Yeah, just frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if he regretted what he did, Nylander said he clued in pretty quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah. Sitting there I got a text message. I was like oh, not a good idea. Not a good thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMade a mistake. He owned up to it. You know, things happen. People make mistakes. Players make mistakes. Coaches make mistakes. It happens … He knows it\u2019s wrong and he owned up to it,\u201d Leafs head coach Craig Berube<\/a> told reporters Monday.<\/p>\n

Including Sunday\u2019s contest, Nylander has missed the previous five games with a groin injury. Toronto\u2019s loss Sunday afternoon was their fourth home loss in a row and their sixth defeat in seven games.<\/p>\n

Nylander said his goal is to be back in the lineup sometime during the team\u2019s six-game road trip, which begins Thursday in Seattle against the Kraken. Toronto will wrap up their five-game homestand against the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> Tuesday night before hitting the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto Maple Leafs star forward William Nylander was fined $5,000 for putting up the middle finger during his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[4759,5,20,5172,4,66,31,32467,5171,34972],"class_list":{"0":"post-429824","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-maple-leafs","11":"tag-mapleleafs","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-toronto","14":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","15":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-10","16":"tag-torontomapleleafs","17":"tag-william-nylander-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8477939"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115964365594922374","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}