Nylander checking out new linemates
Need for better road efforts leads to separating rookies
Those on the Maple Leafs who have had William Nylander as a linemate this season say one thing about the 20-year-old speedster: He has great ice vision.
But while that vision and a host of other top-shelf offensive skills have helped Nylander establish himself as a go-to weapon on the power play, there’s always the continual process of bettering his defensive game.
He has spent the last two games on the Leafs’ top checking line with Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov, rather than with fellow rookies Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman. And that assignment could continue against Carolina on Tuesday as he looks to convince the coaching staff he is reliable at both ends of the ice.
“Both lines are good, we create chances on both lines, so I’ll see at game time which line I’m on,” Nylander said Monday, after finishing practice on Kadri’s line. He has spent 13.3 per cent of his ice time with Kadri this season, and 79.4 per cent with Matthews and Hyman.
Nylander is the club’s top producer on the power play, with four goals and four assists, but his evenstrength production, like that of Matthews, has slipped lately. Nylander has just one even-strength goal in his last 12 games; Matthews had been held without a goal in any situation over the same stretch.
And with the Leafs trying to find good fits and maximize the potential of several players, Nylander has found himself with Kadri, particularly on the road, where Toronto, with just a 1-5-3 away record, is trying to focus on a two-way game.
Babcock has still hooked up Nylander and Matthews for a shift or two on the road, when offence is needed, and the pair has played together regularly at home, but the Leafs are looking for more defensive balance from Nylander, just as they did with Kadri when Babcock took over as coach.
Kadri can see Nylander’s skill and scoring potential but, as a former alloffence player who has become reliable at both ends of the ice, he knows the process Nylander is going through.
“It’s tough on anyone, not just a young player,” Kadri said about changing lines. “But it is important for any player to go through that, and to be able to execute with anyone in the lineup. I think its something a lot of players have to manage and do well at.”
There may be some added value for Nylander in switching between Kadri and Matthews: Both of them are featured on the Leafs’ power play, which has accounted for 64 per cent of Nylander’s offence.
“I think it’s going well,” Nylander said of joining with Kadri line.
“Whatever line you are on, you try to be better all the time, you try to put the puck on the net and you try to create chances. I think we’re creating those chances and it’s been good.”