World junior notebook: William Nylander’s injury remains shrouded in mystery

HELSINKI— It is becoming the Mystery of William Nylander.

In a strange turn of events, the Swedish hockey team called a news conference and then, at the last second, cancelled the get-together in which Nylander was supposed to address his health and continued participation at the world junior hockey championship.

The bottom line is Nylander is officially day-to-day, with the team hoping he will return to tournament action soon.

But it was a befuddling journey to get them to say as much, although the Maple Leafs may have had something to do with it. Swedish news outlet Expressen said Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello called both the Swedish federation and Nylander and urged them to say nothing.

Lamoriello, whose Leafs are secretive when it comes to their own injured players, offered no comment on the report other than to say through a spokesman “the club has an excellent relationship with the Swedish Federation. We’re in constant communication with them throughout this process.”

Nylander is out with a suspected concussion — the team won’t confirm it’s a concussion — as the result of a hit to the head in their tourney opener. He has been spotted at his hotel having lunch.

The Maple Leafs’ top prospect seemed fine and reportedly has been exercising.

But he did not skate Thursday as expected, leading to speculation he’d had a setback. ROUNDUP: Finland defeated the Czech Republic 5-4 on Thursday in the preliminary-round finale for both teams. Tournament scoring leader Jesse Puljujarvi scored twice for the host side and Patrik Laine notched the game-winner in the third period. Puljujarvi has 12 points (5-7) in four games . . . Russia edged Slovakia 2-1 on Thursday to secure first place in Group B . . . Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist to lead the United States to a 4-1 victory over Denmark on Thursday in preliminary round action.