No, Nylander isn’t demoted
With his top nine forwards healthy, Keefe is experimenting with new lines
It was startling to see William Nylander wearing a white jersey — normally reserved for so-called bottom-six forwards — at the Maple Leafs’ practice on Monday.
Sure enough, Nylander skated with third-line centre David Kämpf and forward Alex Kerfoot as coach Sheldon Keefe unveiled new lines, also splitting up Auston Matthews (now with Michael Bunting and Ondrej Kaše) and Mitch Marner (on the right side with Ilya Mikheyev and John Tavares).
“For me, it’s about having Matthews, Marner and Nylander on three separate lines and getting a look at what that looks like, for both our team and how the opposition might look to contend with that,” Keefe said.
At a different time or on another team, this might be deemed a demotion in Nylander’s case. But it’s hard to argue with the logic of having a point-a-game forward on each of the first three lines, creating mismatch opportunities that should lead to more scoring. The Leafs are averaging 3.37 goals per game, eighth-best in the NHL.
“It’s really about minutes and how much guys play, and I don’t see anything changing there at all, generally,” said Keefe. “I just like the ability to have lots of options. It’s on me to manage the minutes and that was my message, not just to Will but to Mitch and Auston and John.”
Nylander averages 18:54 of ice time, third-most among Leafs forwards. His special-teams workload won’t be affected, but his five-onfive ice time might. He’s been averaging 15:54 at even strength, while Kämpf has been averaging 12:11, a difference of about four shifts.
“I think it’s a good way to spread out of the guys on the team,” said Nylander. “Me and Kerfoot have had chemistry before, and Kämpf is a smart player and solid defensively, so I think that could be really good.”
Keefe had been critical of the Tavares line (with Nylander and Kerfoot) and noticed a slippage in play elsewhere.
“We’ll see how it all plays out,” Keefe said, “but even something as simple as changing the lines like that, changing the chemistry, is stimulating enough in itself to get some good chemistry going and get the guys firing.”
Keefe said he would have done it sooner — and had been thinking about it since training camp — but hasn’t had all of the top nine forwards healthy at the same time until now.
They will practise that way again Tuesday, and may debut Wednesday night at home to the Anaheim Ducks.
“We have some things that we know that work and we can go back to at any time,” Keefe said.
“I suspect we will, but I think it’s important for us to have different options and get everybody comfortable playing in different situations, and get used to moving around.”