Alex Nylander gushes it would be “a dream come true” to play with his brother William on the Maple Leafs — but knows he won’t simply be handed an NHL contract.
The hard work towards that has already begun Alex told the Sun on Tuesday, a third week into off-ice training in Stockholm, with his elder sibling as well as Swedish NHLers such as Rasmus Sandin and goalie Samuel Ersson.
Alex signed a one-year American Hockey League deal with the farm-team Marlies last month.
“I can’t wait for that chance to come,” he said. “But I know I have to prove myself first. It’s been a long wait to get back on the ice (his last team, Columbus, missed the playoffs). I hope to come to Toronto in early September (to join the summer skates prior to the main training camp).”
While William was chosen eighth overall in 2014, stayed a Leaf his entire career so far and stands eighth in franchise game-winning and power-play goals, Alex’s NHL journey hit a few potholes.
Also picked eighth, two years after William, he played only 19 games for the Buffalo Sabres between AHL stints and his breakout year with the Chicago Blackhawks was set back by a 2020 knee operation due to a meniscus tear.
“I’d never had a surgery like that. Chicago had been talking to me about taking an even bigger role on the team for the next season but, at 22, I missed all the next year and half the one after that. It took a while to recover.”
Attempting a comeback after a move to Pittsburgh, he was traded last season to Columbus where 11 goals in 23 games, including three multi-goal outings — but that was not enough to convince new general manager Don Waddell to qualify him.
While there have been very intense negotiations in the course of William’s past two long-term contracts with the Leafs where father Michael Nylander, a former NHLer, and agent Lewis Gross have played hardball with Kyle Dubas and then Brad Treliving, all sides quickly saw the opportunity for Alex with the Marlies to recalibrate his big-league path at age 26.
Alex had lived for a time with William and Michael in Toronto when Alex was a team-best 75-point left winger for the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads prior to his draft year, when Michael was assistant coach to James Boyd.
Like William, Alex was born in Calgary during Michael’s playing days there and is very familiar to Canada and the Toronto hockey market. Alex is 6-foot-1, a little taller than William, both looming over the 5-foot-11 Michael.
“It was a lot of fun at Mississauga. I thought my dad helped the whole team. It was weird at the beginning to be coached by him, but nice to have him around. He knew what I had to work on before the draft, to have that confidence.
“He’s a huge inspiration to where both his sons are today. He still comes to our games and hangs around the gym. I don’t know where we’d be without him.”
Alex hopes to follow NHLers who’ve restarted their careers in the Leafs’ orbit, most recently the Islanders former first-round pick, Kieffer Bellows, who had a 27-goal campaign with the Marlies and earned a look with the Nashville Predators this season.
“We all had a lot of talk before free agency,” Alex said. “(Michael and William) were both in the conversation and Leafs management was really good. We all thought it would be the best to get the (AHL) contract, turn that around, build on last year. It was important I’d shown with the Blue Jackets what I can really do and strive to get even better.
“I can bring the scoring, but I want to be more consistent day in, day out, move my feet more. Keep those offensive instincts, but be a better two-way player.”
The most recent time the Nylander brothers played meaningful hockey together was the 2016 world junior championship.
“I was left wing, I think he was right and maybe Joel Eriksson Ek was our centre. We played a couple of games with great chemistry, but right after we combined on a goal, (William) got checked in the head and was out. Other than that, we’ve just played in the summer.
“To be with him on the Leafs would be amazing, a dream come true. I’ve watched him and the Leafs play a lot over the years and know a lot of what they do.”
Alex plans to wear No. 92 on the Marlies and, down the road if things work out, to be on a draw with No. 88.
“When that time comes, I’ll have to prove myself. The injury and all that is in the past. I’m more determined than ever. I’m ready for this,” he said.
TV TIMEOUT
Alex is impressed with William’s acting ability, with a couple of commercials under the latter’s belt.
The Rogers communications ad for TTC cell service where William gets embarrassed by a call from family in Sweden while on the subway is a favourite.
“He’s pretty good in front of the camera,” Alex said with a laugh. “He’s got that swagger about him. My family had a lot of fun being in that with him.”
William has also done a couple of spots for Sonnet Insurance, including one where he fires practice pucks through Plexiglass into a concession stand worked by former Leafs captain Doug Gilmour.
“That one went viral,” Alex said. “I think he’s going to have a second career.”
HAKANPAA ON PAUSE
There is still no word on an official signing of Finnish defenceman Jani Hakanpaa.
After the Leafs announced late during the July 1 free agency scramble that the 6-foot-7 blueliner signed a two-year, $3-million deal, Hakanpaa still has not been officially added to the roster.
The Sun’s Steve Simmons reported July 3 the knee injury that dogged the 32-year-old Hakanpaa late in the season with Dallas and sidelined him since March was not fully healed, though Toronto team doctors had cleared him before the signing.
Attempts over the weekend by the Sun to contact Hakanpaa’s agent, Mika Rautakalio, did not get a response. The Leafs have just under $1.3 million in cap space open with Hakanpaa not yet on the books.
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