The Maple Leafs held their third annual practice in Gravenhurst, Ontario on Wednesday.
The Maple Leafs held their third annual practice in Gravenhurst, Ontario on Wednesday.
Could William Nylander be moving back to the wing in the near future?
The 27-year-old skated on the right wing of the second line Wednesday in Gravenhurst alongside John Tavares and Max Domi.
This wasn't a move to place Nylander back on the wing, but more so for the Maple Leafs to get a continued look at prospect Fraser Minten as he continues to show progress in Toronto's pre-season.
"It was really just about getting Fraser Minten in the mix," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said on Wednesday.
"Wanted to get Minten in and still maintain John (Tavares) and Auston (Matthews) and David Kampf (at center), so it was a good way to do that today. It's not a reflection of Willy at all, it's more we need to make a decision on Fraser, obviously. So you get him into a position to play with the group."
Nylander's move to center came at the beginning of Maple Leafs training camp, with Keefe stating Toronto would "commit to it for a bit" on the team's media day.
"(We're) not committing to any sort of specific period of time, but just to say it's not going to be a one-off or a one-day thing or a one preseason game," Keefe said. "We want to give it some time to come together just to see what that looks like."
The 27-year-old has played two pre-season games at centre thus far and hasn't looked out of place. Making a move to center when you've played wing for a number of years can be a challenge, but as we've seen with Nylander, he doesn't mind a challenge.
"It's a little bit of adjustment in the D-zone," Nylander said at the start of training camp. "But I mean, now if I play (there) throughout training camp and get games I think it'll help me get adjusted."
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