Nylander missed his first regular-season game in over three years on Saturday.
When William Nylander took the full warmup and line rushes in his usual spot on Saturday, it looked like he would push through and play. But then the lineup card came out, and Nylander wasn’t on it, forcing the Swede to miss his first regular-season game since April 4, 2022, due to a non-COVID-related illness.
On Monday, there was concern Nylander might miss another game. He rotated on the first line during the session, with Bobby McMann and Nick Robertson taking the bulk of the reps alongside Auston Matthews. However, Nylander did take reps on the club’s first power-play unit, sparking some optimism from Leafs head coach Craig Berube.
"I'm glad he stayed out there the whole practice and participated, which is good,” Berube said of Nylander. “That's good news, so I think obviously he's getting better. We’ll see where he's at tomorrow morning.”.
Nylander left Friday’s game against the Sabres in the third period after a hit from Buffalo forward Jason Zucker. He most recently missed the first three games of the 2024 Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the Boston Bruins due to eye migraines.
It was also the first game this season for Nylander starting a contest alongside Auston Matthews. Despite missing the last game, Nylander currently leads all Leafs in scoring with 14 points and 11 assists.
Nylander was in a tie for fourth place in points heading into Wednesday's games. The Leafs recently moved the Swede to the top line in an effort to get stars like Matthews going. Matthews has five goals and three assists in nine games. However, he has a whopping 35 shots on goal this season—11 more than the next Leaf (John Tavares, 22 shots). Berube indicated that he intends to keep McMann and Robertson on Matthews' wing if Nylander can't play.
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