Toronto Maple Leafs: What should the expectations be for William Nylander in season debut
The Toronto Maple Leafs will welcome William Nylander back to the lineup and don’t be surprised if he can have an impact right off the start.
It is rare to see a player make his season debut in December especially one with as much anticipation as William Nylander’s for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings.
Now the conversation can shift towards the impact Nylander can have in the lineup rather than trying to determine whether he was overpaid. It is now up to him to show that he was justified in his contract demands and he’ll have millions of reasons to motivate him.
For the Leafs, the obvious change is the trickle-down effect Nylander’s return will have on the lineup, it started with Josh Leivo being traded to the Vancouver Canucks. The lineup now sees Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen joining Nazem Kadri while Nylander will play with Auston Matthews and Patrick Marleau.
So what should the expectations be for Nylander in his first game of the season? Keep them reasonable considering he hasn’t played a game since April. At the same time, he should be the freshest player and is playing on a prominent line.
Babcock on Nylander return: "He just has to keep his shifts short. He has to be detailed and work. Everything else is a bonus. It’s going to take him some time, there is no question about it, we understand that." #Leafs
— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) December 6, 2018
Unfortunately for Kapanen, Nylander’s return means he gets moved off Matthews’ line where he enjoyed great success but Mike Babcock doesn’t appear to want either Nylander or Kapanen to play their off wing.
Babcock says Kapanen doesn’t have the advantage of switching to the left side necessarily. Repeated they’ve done that with Brown in the past, not Kapanen. You may not have your Kapanen - Matthews - Nylander dreams come true.
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) December 4, 2018
Instead, he will put Kapanen on a line which he used during the playoffs and hopefully they can find some chemistry but it should help that Kadri and Kapanen have already played with each other this season.
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Where Nylander can have the greatest impact is his skating ability which makes him a dangerous player in transition which should open up room for Matthews and Marleau. If you want a full breakdown of Nylander’s impact in the transition game then take a look at Andrew Berkshire’s article on Sportsnet.
Mitch Marner has taken a big step this season and has proven to be among the top wingers in the league but the style he plays in comparison to Nylander is totally different and you will start to see the gap of who’s the better winger close pretty quickly.
Sure people see that Nylander’s career high is 61 points, he will benefit from playing with Matthews just like Marner has with Tavares. It should also help that Nylander will now be the go-to option on the second power-play unit which will get their opportunities after the top line wears down the oppositions penalty killers.
Leafs fans should be excited to see this offence back to being at full strength which is scary considering they are third in the league in goals scored (102) which are10 behind the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Next. Leafs miss out again on top spot in Forbes’ NHL valuations. dark
How excited are you about Nylander’s return to the lineup? Do you expect him to have an immediate impact and how many points does he finish with this season? Let us know in the comments below.