Jim Hiller Wants To See The William Nylander He Remembers From First Run With Maple Leafs

As usual, William Nylander has been among the Toronto Maple Leafs' point leaders and produces offensively alongside some of the best talents in the NHL. He's 10th in league scoring and second on the team with 21 points, made up of 10 goals and 11 assists.

However, one aspect of his game that Nylander himself noticed is that he doesn't nearly have the puck as much on his stick, skating through all three zones and dictating the play.

"I feel like it's been a weird season in that way," Nylander said after Wednesday's practice. "I feel like I haven't had puck nearly as much as I usually have in, you know, neutral zone, O-zone."

Puck possession is commonly measured by shot attempts and Corsi, and Nylander is near the bottom of the barrel on the team on that front.

Among Maple Leafs forwards who have played more than 10 games this season at 5-on-5, Nylander has the third-lowest shot attempts percentage at 43.7 percent. Only Gavin McKenna and Nick Paul are lower than Nylander in that category.

In terms of Corsi share, Nylander stands in the same position, with only McKenna and Paul having a lower percentage than his 43.61 percent among forwards to play at least 10 games with the Maple Leafs this season, according to NaturalStatTrick. Last year, he posted 47.88 percent, the second-best number behind John Tavares.

"I don't know exactly what that is coming down to, but I mean, that's something trying to get sorted," Nylander added.

"I would agree with him," head coach Jim Hiller said. "That's been a constant conversation with Willy and I. Certainly, the point production is there. But I'm used to seeing him back in the day where he would carry the puck through the neutral zone, and he would take people wide and turn up and find a secondary option. He just hasn't had a lot of those looks."

These days, Nylander hangs around the opposition blueline in breakouts, and it's not often he carries the puck up the ice, unless it's a power-play zone entry. In fact, in recent years, he's been known to be sprung for breakaways and pick up thread-the-needle passes. But there's been some consideration to alter those tendencies a little bit.

"We've talked a lot about him maybe coming back for the puck a little bit more," Hiller said of Nylander.  "Maybe spending less time in the neutral zone waiting for the puck and more time in our own zone trying to be the guy that is the breakout outlet and carrying."

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