Nylander sustained a lower-body injury on Friday, and despite participating in a full practice, the Leafs need to see how the player feels in warmups.
William Nylander will be a game-time decision for the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second consecutive game as they host the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Arena.
Nylander was injured in the club’s 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Friday. He was hit by Sabres forward Jason Zucker in the third period. The club has said that Nylander sustained a lower-body injury.
The Swedish forward took part in the morning skate for the return match on Saturday but was held out despite taking line rushes. He took part in a full practice on Monday. Despite Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube saying they’d see how he feels in the morning, a game-time decision assessment was given again on Tuesday.
Is he close to returning? What are the Leafs gleaning from the morning skate that is ultimately the deciding factor?
“I think it depends on a couple of things,” Berube said. “I really don't want to get too detailed into it, but there's a couple areas where he needs to feel right.”
Berube continued, “It's hard for him to know until it's game time out in the warm-up and how he feels and how he's doing certain things. That's the decision that's going to be made.”
The Leafs are certainly bracing for the possibility that Nylander will not play. This has led to the potential debut of Sammy Blais. With Calle Jarnkrok likely out of the lineup with a lower-body injury , Blais did not stay on the ice late with the projected scratches for the club’s optional skate. After being claimed off waivers before the season started, Blais could make his Leafs debut in the club’s 10th game of the regular season.
Berube, who coached Blais during the St. Louis Blues’ 2019 Stanley Cup run and a couple of years afterward, spoke highly of the forward.
“He's a physical player. He likes to throw his body around on the forecheck,” Berube said of Blais. “And from the past that I had Sammy, he's got really good hands. He's good and tight with the puck and can do pretty incredible things.”
"He's got a good shot too, but more so than anything, he's a guy that's going to go out there and finish his checks and try to make the other team uncomfortable,” he added.
Nylander has been pretty durable and currently leads the Leafs in scoring with 14 points in eight games. The Leafs snapped a three-game losing streak without Nylander in the lineup but it’s evident they’d like to have him back sooner rather than later
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