The Toronto Maple Leafs signed UFA Winger Alexander Nylander to a one-year, AHL contract Sunday. The deal gives Nylander the potential to team up with older brother William Nylander, but he will need to prove himself first.
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed UFA Winger Alexander Nylander to a one-year, AHL contract Sunday. The deal gives Nylander the potential to team up with older brother William Nylander, but he will need to prove himself first.
The Toronto Maple Leafs conducted a nice piece of work Sunday, signing UFA winger Alexander Nylander to an AHL contract with the Toronto Marlies. The 26-year-old winger has bounced around the NHL since he was drafted eighth-overall by Buffalo in 2016, playing for the Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets.
Most recently, Nylander had a productive 2023-24 season with Columbus, posting 11 goals and 15 points in 23 games. And Nylander now is in the same Leafs organization as his older brother, William Nylander, although there’s no guarantee Alexander Nylander will make the Leafs at any point this coming season.
All-in-all, Alexander Nylander’s new contract is a show-me, low-risk, decent-reward deal that has the potential to add some of the offense lost with the free-agency departure of winger Tyler Bertuzzi. Alexander Nylander is clearly not on the same level as Bertuzzi, but if he can show some potential and chemistry with new linemates in training camp, Nylander can earn a spot in Toronto’s bottom-six group of forwards and serve as a depth option for new Leafs coach Craig Berube.
Certainly, William Nylander will be thrilled at the possibility of playing on the same team as his younger brother, but that’s a side-effect of this new contract for Alexander. And if it doesn’t work out, the Leafs will let Alexander stay with the Marlies and help that team stay competitive next season.
Alexander Nylander has 330 games of AHL experience, generating 94 goals and 210 points in that span, so he still has something of value to offer. The only question from this point on is whether he can follow up on the success he had with the Blue Jackets and carve out a spot with the Buds for the foreseeable future.
Having a brother act on the same team is something that happens on occasion at the NHL level – and this coming season, three other teams will have siblings as teammates: Jack and Luke Hughes in New Jersey; Jesper and Adam Boqvist in Florida; and Mathieu and Pierre-Olivier Joseph in St. Louis.
Sometimes the ducks wind up in a row to make brothers into teammates, and that’s shaping up to be a distinct possibility for the Nylander brothers in Toronto. The opportunity is now right in front of Alexander Nylander, and it’s up to him to make the most of it and wear a Leafs uniform next year.