Give William Nylander an A.
His home country of Sweden did that on Thursday morning, naming the Maple Leafs star winger as an alternate captain for the 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal and Boston Feb. 12-20.
Nylander has 29 goals this season, tied for second-most in the National Hockey League behind Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers, who has 35.
In 2017, Nylander led Sweden in scoring at the world championship and was named the most valuable player in the tournament. Two years later in 2019, Nylander led the tournament in scoring and was named to the all-star team. He also played for Sweden at the worlds in 2022.
On Wednesday, Nylander said the tournament was picking up interest at home in Sweden.
“A lot of people are excited about it,” Nylander said. “It will be a lot of fun.”
Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning was named captain of Sweden. The other two assistant captains are Erik Karlsson of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mattias Ekholm of the Edmonton Oilers.
Finland was the first team in the tournament to name its captain and assistants on Thursday.
Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers will wear the C for Finland. His assistants are Sebastian Aho and Mikko Rantanen of the Carolina Hurricanes and Mikael Granlund of the San Jose Sharks.
Canada and the United States will name their captains early on Thursday afternoon. The expectation is that Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby will get the C for Canada, while the Leafs’ Auston Matthews will be in the running to wear that same letter for the U.S.
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