Although the Toronto Maple Leafs won’t add another alternate captain following Mitch Marner’s departure, head coach Craig Berube would like to see William Nylander grow more into a leadership role.
Nylander just had his best season as a Maple Leaf, scoring the second-most goals in the NHL (45, which is a career-high, too) and finishing second in team scoring, only behind Marner. It’s difficult to project what the forward will do this year. The Maple Leafs, though, want to see him build off last season's production.
“We want him to have another great year. Obviously, production-wise, we need him to score goals, and we need him to do the things that he does with his skill,” Berube said on Saturday. “For me, I think he can take a bigger step in the leadership role. He's been a player a long time on this team. He's been around these guys. We lost (Marner), so in my opinion, Willy can step up and take a little bit of a bigger leadership role here.”
Berube confirmed on media day that Morgan Rielly and John Tavares would each get an ‘A’ this season. The head coach followed up on Saturday, adding that several other players within the leadership group don’t wear a letter on their chest.
Maple Leafs Notebook: Who Stood Out During First Training Camp Scrimmage
It was <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/maple-leafs-reveal-73-player-training-camp-roster-for-2025-26">Day 3 of Toronto Maple Leafs training camp</a> on Saturday, and we finally had our first scrimmage between the top two groups.
Whether Nylander is a part of that group is unknown. However, there are things that Berube wants to see from the forward when it comes to taking on more leadership.
“I think stepping up in the dressing room, on the bench. Just the voice, more than anything, for me, and leading with playing the right way. Just things like that. That, for me, is leadership. Taking care of your teammates, helping them out in situations, maybe they need a little kick in the ass, you know? Like, that's all leadership for me. That's what leadership's about.”
Before departing the club for the Vegas Golden Knights, Marner split the alternate captain duties with Rielly. Tavares had his own ‘A’ after passing on the Maple Leafs captaincy to Matthews two summers ago.
Maple Leafs Hit By More Injuries At Training Camp As Nicolas Roy, Simon Benoit Join List; Joseph Woll Ill
After two on-ice sessions, the Toronto Maple Leafs are already running into some early injury trouble. Before the club hit the ice at Ford Performance Centre for Day 3, the Leafs announced that forward Nicolas Roy (lower-body), defenseman Simon Benoit (upper-body), and goaltender Joseph Woll (illness) would be out.
There’s always a chance Nylander gets a letter in the future, but for now, Toronto isn’t going to be rotating. They have their captain in Auston Matthews, plus their alternates in Tavares and Rielly.
“It's a discussion that me and (Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving) have about that. We're going to leave the A's where they're at right now. I don't think we need a rotation,” Berube said.
“It's more of a leadership group here. We've got the captain and the two assistants, but we have four or five other guys that could easily have an ‘A’ on their jersey, but there's no need for that. They could still lead without one, and we have that leadership group.”
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