Nylander is eager to get a longer look up the middle this season and new head coach Craig Berube is open to giving it more time.
Nylander is eager to get a longer look up the middle this season and new head coach Craig Berube is open to giving it more time.
Like at last year's training camp, William Nylander stepped onto the ice at Toronto Maple Leafs training camp and skated at the center position, skating on a line alongside wingers Max Domi and Calle Jarnkrok.
Entering the first year of a massive eight-year, $92 million contract he signed in January, Nylander said he's excited to get a chance to play up the middle again.
"I think that I told Chief (Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube) that the most important thing is that you can't just play one game if you want to try a centre. So, we agree on that and give it a go and hopefully it goes well."
Nylander is referring to the short cup of coffee he had playing at center during the pre-season before he was moved back to the wing. When Maple Leafs camp opened last year, previous head coach Sheldon Keefe said it was an idea new GM Brad Treliving pitched. But as Fraser Minten began to emerge as a third-line center option and won that spot out of camp, Nylander was quickly put back on the wing long before the regular season began.
When Minten mas returned to Junior after four NHL games, Nylander remained on the wing.
So why didn't Nyander get a longer look?
"I don't know, you'd have to ask my old coach about that," he said following practice on Thursday.
Under Berube, Nylander is being evaluated with a fresh set of eyes and agrees that his elite talent could be utilized at center, a position the player was drafted at when the Leafs selected him with the first pitch (eighth overall) in 2014.
"You got to give him some opportunity and time. You have to see an exhibition here down the road a little bit, play a few games, see what he looks like, see how he's feeling, see if he's comfortable," Berube said. "Just conversations that I'll have with him, but also we'll be watching him and see where he goes."
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_OxnMVkvdg[/embed]
It's far from a full endorsement that Nylander is locked into the position. But there is certainly hoping to be more time, given what Berube sees as the upside.
"I don't think it's going to be an issue with him getting the puck and transporting it up the ice," Berube explained." He's an elite player. He has that ability, but it's the details of the defensive part of the game, the breakouts and things like that, positioning, that takes a little bit more time."
There were times last season when John Tavares, who used to be Toronto's second option up the middle, was moved down to the third line. If Nylander can prove to be a capable top-six center, it will provide the Leafs with solid depth down the middle. Insulating him with Jarnkrok, one of Toronto's more trusted defensive players on the wing, could help. And Domi has experience being able to switch between the two positions.
Domi was on Nylander's wing the last time this experience was tried.
William's brother, Alex, who is at Leafs camp on an AHL contract, says he expect his older sibling to handle the adjustment just fine.
"He's played that role before in his career, and I think he can play anywhere. But I think he'll do really good there as well, or just as good as in the wing.
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