Player Discussion William Nylander

[Confucius]

Nylander is definately a frustrating player.

On one hand he finds a way to score in big moments. On the other, he just seems to not care to come back and play in his own end sometimes.

Like I said, I don't really think it was Marner's fault. He was clearly looking at Lindholm and once Pasta picked up speed he was never going to catch him.

Just a well executed play by Bos thst probably works only half thectime

Of the core 4 it just seems William is the most rebel. He is more likely the one that thinks, “I’ve go to be me, I’ve got to be me.” So I wouldn’t be surprised if he just ignored Keefe and did what he does best. Too bad the others weren’t similar.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Do we think Berube pushes WN to center?

He does have the skill set and with the right focus , determination and most importantly accountability he could really excel.

Thoughts?

Have to play both ways as a center so likely not

 

[Kazparov]

I think I've seen the "Nylander at centre" experiment enough times by now to make me believe it would never work as a viable long term solution.

We paid this guy $11.5M to be a 90-100 point winger. There isn't another 2C in the league making $11M. If the Leafs put Nylander and Matthews on the same line, and trade Marner while eventually replacing Tavares, they will rebalance the forward lines with a traditional setup and can use the rest to put towards defense and goaltending.

Whether that happens this year or next year is up to Marner and Tavares but it will happen eventually is my guess.

Leafs have an 11M 2nd line C! Lol

 

[Notsince67]

Do we think Berube pushes WN to center?

He does have the skill set and with the right focus , determination and most importantly accountability he could really excel.

Thoughts?

Ya no

 

[notDatsyuk]

I think his defensive deficiencies are more attitude than actual skills. He's strong on his skates, strips puck well, good passer and we he wants he can use his strength & skating to win puck battles.

And I could see all of them having lower points in the reg season if they are tasked to play a tighter game.

I think his 'defensive deficiencies' are more a factor of playing with JT. When he's played with others his game and his numbers are better.

 

[notDatsyuk]

I think I've seen the "Nylander at centre" experiment enough times by now to make me believe it would never work as a viable long term solution.

We paid this guy $11.5M to be a 90-100 point winger. There isn't another 2C in the league making $11M. If the Leafs put Nylander and Matthews on the same line, and trade Marner while eventually replacing Tavares, they will rebalance the forward lines with a traditional setup and can use the rest to put towards defense and goaltending.

Whether that happens this year or next year is up to Marner and Tavares but it will happen eventually is my guess.

Ignoring the fact that we are somewhat stuck in a cycle of overpaying (thanks, Dubas), the idea of two top centres isn't unusual - Edmonton and Pittsburgh being the first two that come to mind.

But yes, $11M for a 2C is ridiculous, especially six years ago - can you imagine any GM being that stupid?

 

[saffronleaf]

fellow nylanderites

we had to be patient

we had to fight hard

but today i declare that, in the contentious nylander vs marner battle: willy is victorious

hip hip hooray

hip hip hooray

hip hip hooray

 

[Gilmour1996]

fellow nylanderites

we had to be patient

we had to fight hard

but today i declare that, in the contentious nylander vs marner battle: willy is victorious

hip hip hooray

hip hip hooray

hip hip hooray

I'd still pay money to see their dads duke it out. Bare-knuckle boxing. No ref.

 

[sunstersun]

fellow nylanderites

we had to be patient

we had to fight hard

but today i declare that, in the contentious nylander vs marner battle: willy is victorious

hip hip hooray

hip hip hooray

hip hip hooray

I called it the first year they both played. Marner's stuff was sporadic to me and not sustainable. Meanwhile Nylander is effortlessly entering the zone.

 

[Martin Skoula]

I think I've seen the "Nylander at centre" experiment enough times by now to make me believe it would never work as a viable long term solution.

We paid this guy $11.5M to be a 90-100 point winger. There isn't another 2C in the league making $11M. If the Leafs put Nylander and Matthews on the same line, and trade Marner while eventually replacing Tavares, they will rebalance the forward lines with a traditional setup and can use the rest to put towards defense and goaltending.

Whether that happens this year or next year is up to Marner and Tavares but it will happen eventually is my guess.

We’ve seen the experiment for 2-4 games at a time with Kerfoot and random trash as his wingers coming in cold midway through a playoff series, we haven’t seen any reps with top-6 players and a training camp under their belt.

 

[ZEBROA]

We’ve seen the experiment for 2-4 games at a time with Kerfoot and random trash as his wingers coming in cold midway through a playoff series, we haven’t seen any reps with top-6 players and a training camp under their belt.

He would probably need a full season to reprogram fully. Worth it if it works. Probably worth it anyway for his overall game.

 

[Martin Skoula]

He would probably need a full season to reprogram fully. Worth it if it works. Probably worth it anyway for his overall game.

I just don’t see how it can possibly be worse than Tavares. Assume the worst case lazy soft primadonna narrative possible, he still gets back to the defensive zone faster than Tavares while skating at 30% effort and takes more pucks away blindfolded with two broken hands.

That’s to say nothing of their respective puck protection, zone exit/entry, and playmaking ability.

 

[ZEBROA]

I just don’t see how it can possibly be worse than Tavares. Assume the worst case lazy soft primadonna narrative possible, he still gets back to the defensive zone faster than Tavares while skating at 30% effort and takes more pucks away blindfolded with two broken hands.

That’s to say nothing of their respective puck protection, zone exit/entry, and playmaking ability.

I belive its a win win situation, if it works or not. But for some reason i belive it will be. Knies Tavares Nylander going forward, i just hope Berube has better ideas.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Leafs have an 11M 2nd line C! Lol

Dubas is an idiot.
So is Babcock and Shanahan.

It should have been clear this team didn't need an accelerated rebuild.

ROOOOOKKKIEEESSSSS.

 

[ToneDog]

Dubas is an idiot.
So is Babcock and Shanahan.

It should have been clear this team didn't need an accelerated rebuild.

ROOOOOKKKIEEESSSSS.

They also do not need 2 $11+m soft wingers but here we are 6 years later.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

They also do not need 2 $11+m soft wingers but here we are 6 years later.

For an organization that is supposed to be "experts regarding the cap" ... we sure threw away money.

 

[ToneDog]

For an organization that is supposed to be "experts regarding the cap" ... we sure threw away money.

You do not hand the keys to a 35 year old rookie at a critical time in the rebuild and you do not allow him to hire his best friend, a rookie coach and you do not allow it to fail 5 consecutive years. The idiot was still about to extend Dubas until the stick boy tried to strong arm him. Wow.

 

[nuck]

Dubas is an idiot.
So is Babcock and Shanahan.

It should have been clear this team didn't need an accelerated rebuild.

ROOOOOKKKIEEESSSSS.

TBH that kind of started with Lou and his own rentals after that first big season. One year too early in the clubs growth cycle for sure. But for that and JT it would have been a different roadmap, even with KD all the way because of those picks exported for Marleau and salary retention..

 

[Aashir Mallik]

Screw nylander at 2C

Find a proper 2C so that he doesn’t have to play with the bum captain. Relegate him to 3C and hope he can just give you 40 points.

We need to find a Dylan strome, Vincent Trocheck, Nazem Kadri. Tavares sucks so bad I can’t stomach the idea of him playing top 6 next year

 

[rumman]

Screw nylander at 2C

Find a proper 2C so that he doesn’t have to play with the bum captain. Relegate him to 3C and hope he can just give you 40 points.

We need to find a Dylan strome, Vincent Trocheck, Nazem Kadri. Tavares sucks so bad I can’t stomach the idea of him playing top 6 next year

JT shouldn’t be anywhere near the top 6, but that doesn’t mean trying Nylander at centre on the second line is a bad idea. He seemed to thrive at centre when playing for Sweden……..

 

[Confucius]

Dubas is an idiot.
So is Babcock and Shanahan.

It should have been clear this team didn't need an accelerated rebuild.

ROOOOOKKKIEEESSSSS.

90% of the posters here were all in every year this is the year to go for it. Us naysayers were scorned.

 

[Confucius]

They also do not need 2 $11+m soft wingers but here we are 6 years later.

Well in the 3 seasons before, before the core 4 arrived, 84pts DNQ, 68pts DNQ, 69pts DNQ….
Since then qualified every year and had 105pts, 108 pts,( 81pts 70 gms), (77pts 56 gms), 115pts, 111pts, 102pts.

I know regular season doesn’t matter much to people here but to people who buy tickets and go watch every game, winning is a big deal and at the end of the day they are paying the bills.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Well in the 3 seasons before, before the core 4 arrived, 84pts DNQ, 68pts DNQ, 69pts DNQ….
Since then qualified every year and had 105pts, 108 pts,( 81pts 70 gms), (77pts 56 gms), 115pts, 111pts, 102pts.

I know regular season doesn’t matter much to people here but to people who buy tickets and go watch every game, winning is a big deal and at the end of the day they are paying the bills.

In the year we had the three (before Tavares) - 105 points.

In the six years with JT, we have averaged (with the COVID years extrapolated to 82 games) 107 points.

The Tavares signing has gained us 2 points (one win) per year.

Considering that the arena was basically sold out for every game even in the three years prior, how much did the three, and particularly JT, "pay the bills"?

(Yes, I know it's a pretty silly way of looking at it, but so was the post I'm responding to.)

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

In the year we had the three (before Tavares) - 105 points.

In the six years with JT, we have averaged (with the COVID years extrapolated to 82 games) 107 points.

The Tavares signing has gained us 2 points (one win) per year.

Considering that the arena was basically sold out for every game even in the three years prior, how much did the three, and particularly JT, "pay the bills"?

(Yes, I know it's a pretty silly way of looking at it, but so was the post I'm responding to.)

The Core Fore will be the idols for the next generation of season ticket holders. They are a big deal after that post lockout era where the Leafs had no stars and lost a chunk of their potential fans to other teams in the league.

 

[mikeyz]

You do not hand the keys to a 35 year old rookie at a critical time in the rebuild and you do not allow him to hire his best friend, a rookie coach and you do not allow it to fail 5 consecutive years. The idiot was still about to extend Dubas until the stick boy tried to strong arm him. Wow.

This is what a large percentage of Leafs nation who has been willing to give Shanahan a pass seems to have forgotten. It is absolutely unbelievable that Dubas would likely still be here if he kept his mouth shut and didn’t go for a power move.