Ice-cold Nylander keeping up appearances
If his sophomore slouch is eating away at William Nylander, it’s not a subject discussed over breakfast at the Toronto pad he shares with now-and-again teammate Kasperi Kapanen.
“We don’t talk about hockey,” says the Finnish winger about his slick SwedishCanadian roomie. “It’s not a rule or anything, but I think it’s just common sense that we don’t want to talk about it because we’re at the rink every day and surrounded by hockey.’’
Still, Kapanen is well aware of his friend’s scuffling and sees hints of how it’s troubling Nylander.
“It’s always tough when you’re in a slump. A lot of people expect great things from him because he’s an amazing player. But every player goes through slumps, even Crosby and Ovechkin. It’s just a matter of time. You can see that he’s frustrated, but I know that he’s going to get out of it.” When? How? Because this has become a protracted droop for a 21-year-old who glittered in his first full season with the Maple Leafs — rewriting the record book for most power-play goals and points by any rookie in franchise history. Nylander trailed only Auston Matthews in team goal production with 22, fourth-most among the league’s 2016-17 freshmen class.
He’s scored twice in the last 26 games,
“Now it’s a grind. And if you’re fortunate, you get to be in the same grind for 20 years.” MIKE BABCOCK ON SOPHOMORES
has only two assists in the last eight. This isn’t a dip, it’s a plummet. “You want to score, yeah, but you’ve got to stay positive and look at the fact that you’re creating chances,” Nylander said on Sunday, corralling the same questions he’s been asked day after day after day.
“I’d be frustrated if I wasn’t creating chances or anything. That’s what you think about and what you try to evalu- ate your game on.”
After a day off upon returning from their futile road swing, the Leafs were put through a high-tempo practice. Coach Mike Babcock had Nylander playing centre on a line with Zach Hyman and Connor Brown, a unit that debuted at the Air Canada Centre in last Sunday’s 1-0 win over Edmonton. Babcock discarded the line, returning Nylander to the wing in the three road losses. With last line change, it’s expected he’ll deploy Nylander to the pivot position again for Tuesday afternoon’s encounter against Carolina and Matthews unlikely to be reactivated quite yet from his injury absenteeism — although the young stud skated by himself for about 20 minutes Sunday.
Many observers believe Nylander should be permanently slotted into centre for his playmaking abilities. But the defensive deficiencies that drive Babcock batty in Nylander would be more starkly silhouetted. Nylander can’t hang around the blue line, as is his proclivity, looking for that breakout swing in the action.
“It was pretty good,” counters Nylander, referring to that centring assignment against the Oilers. “Playing down low is a little different. But because I’ve played centre before, it’s already there.” Comprehension of the role, he means. “You know what you’re going to do. Just takes a little time to get used to it.”
Defensive vigilance and puck protection is clearly not a favourite part, or strength, of his game. “You just try to be in the right position. If you’re in the right position, then you can go out and be more aggressive. If you’re aggressive in the wrong position, it’s going to end up bad.”
The struggles being experienced by both Nylander and co-soph Mitch Marner (one goal since the season opener) go a long way towards explaining Toronto’s offensive constipation over the past fortnight or so, with nobody on the roster stepping up to fill the blank left by Matthews, who’s missed four games. The Leafs could muster a mere four goals in last week’s three-set away from home.
Perhaps trying to turn Nylander into a complete two-way forward is a doomed project. Worked with Nazem Kadri, but that took years coming to fruition.
Babcock has occasionally dropped Nylander and Marner to the fourth line, which can be viewed as a tough-love approach. Heck, he did the same thing to Brown, who hasn’t scuffled, at the start of the season to accommodate Patrick Marleau. The coach’s philosophy is simple: “Some- times the players and the fans think that the coach decides. The coach watches. If you play good, you get out there more. If you don’t, you get out there less.”
It’s a fine line to negotiate, however, correcting what’s wrong without crushing a kid’s self-confidence.
“How do you catch him doing it right instead of catch him doing it wrong?” Babcock asks, rhetorically. “How do you build him up as much as you can? Every guy in this room wants to feel good about himself and have swagger. And we want to catch ’em doing it good. That’s our focus all the time.
“In saying all that, when you don’t, we talk to you about it. We also believe in doing it right. So we don’t just get tricked because you’re skilled. We want you to become a high-end skilled player with unbelievable work ethic. That’s how you get to be a star. You’ve got to dig in and you’ve got to put the team first and you’ve got to learn to play without the puck.”
It is Babcock’s mantra and he’s clearly not going to be dissuaded. He keeps the faith in the process and the structure, even if the results aren’t there, even if it seems counterintuitive with Nylander. “Our job here, the whole crew, we’ve got to make him a star. Whether you think we’re handling it right or not, we obviously think we are.”
Playing without the puck. Except Nylander loves the puck. Last season he did wonderful things with the puck. His hands are soft, his creativity exceptional. Although he can’t buy a goal at the moment, and that tension is being exhibited in timing just a tick off and chances squandered. Some rotten luck, too, although that tends to even out eventually.
Babcock claims his coaching relationship with Nylander, and Marner, hasn’t changed from last season. It’s the players who are in a brand new world as second-year NHLers. The bloom is off and some of the easy knack has gone with it. Nylander has not really known fizzle before.
“Last year was one of those years in your career where, you get on the ice, whether you play good or bad, for 16 minutes,” says Babcock. “You’re a first-year guy, there’s no expectations for the team, we’re just kind of cruising along. The first time, you’re pumped up, everything’s good. It’s fun.
“Now it’s a grind. And if you’re fortunate, you get to be in the same grind for 20 years.”
For Nylander, year three will be under a new contract. And he’s not putting up the numbers to command $7 million to $8 million a year, as had been speculated.
Farthest thing from his mind right now, he says.
“If you think about it, you’re going to have headaches.”
He’s got enough of those already.