John Hynes knows that William Nylander can lead the Maple Leafs out of the little hole they’ve dug for themselves.
The Leafs have scored just two goals in losing their past two games, and neither came off the stick of Nylander after the star winger had four goals in the previous three games, all Toronto victories.
Nylander was a point of focus as Hynes, the coach of the Minnesota Wild, prepared his club for its only visit of the 2024-25 regular season to Toronto on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena.
“So dangerous,” Hynes said. “He’s a really competitive player, No. 1, and on top of that with his skill and vision, he’s a guy who can hurt you in so many different ways.
“He’s a shooting threat, he’s a passing threat. He will be a challenge, among others, on this team.”
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Nothing fazes Nylander, a trait that’s evident on a daily basis with the 28-year-old. He’s one of just four Leafs who have played in all 50 games, and with injuries to top-six forwards John Tavares and Matthew Knies, coach Craig Berube continues to try to find the right fits among his lines.
The trio of Pontus Holmberg between Max Domi and Nylander will get another look on Wednesday night.
“By now I’ve played with a lot of the guys, so I’ve established some chemistry with everybody,” Nylander said. “It would be nice (to have the same linemates for more than a handful of games), but guys have been hurt and in and out of the lineup, so it’s hard to control that situation.”
Nylander’s 28 goals were third-most in the National Hockey League through games on Tuesday, behind only Leon Draisaitl of Edmonton (35 goals), Sam Reinhart of Florida and Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor of Winnipeg, who each has 29.
Once the Leafs are done with the Wild, they’ll head west for a four-game trip before the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament begins. No break for Nylander, of course, as he will suit up for Sweden.
Nylander got some laughs when he said that a chat group has been set up for the Swedish players, but “nobody has said anything” and later when he said he told Leafs captain Auston Matthews, who will suit up for the United States, “that we might drop the gloves.”
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“A lot of people are excited about it (back home in Sweden),” Nylander said. “It’s still a road trip away, but once that gets here, it will be a lot of fun.”
The Leafs will take a couple of factors into consideration in their last home game until Feb. 22, when Carolina visits.
Though the Wild is tied with the Washington Capitals for most road wins with 18, Minnesota can’t stop teams on the power play. The Wild is 30th on the penalty kill and in its past seven games, have given up eight power-play goals on 20 chances.
How do the Leafs take advantage of that?
“Shoot the puck,” Berube said. “Find rebounds. Looking at it the last day or so and this morning, we have to attack and shoot pucks and get into that paint area. That’s how you take advantage of it, from my standpoint. And that’s at five on five too.”
X: @koshtorontosun