The Toronto Maple Leafs’ relative lack of goal scoring has been a story all season, but William Nylander hasn’t encountered any of the issues that are plaguing some of his teammates.
While it’s no surprise to see a guy coming off consecutive 40-goal seasons fill the back of the net, Nylander has never ranked higher than 14th in the NHL in goals scored. So he wasn’t expected to be in the Rocket Richard Trophy race at the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Even if Leon Draisaitl (who has 40 goals) isn’t losing sleep just yet, Nylander ranks second in the NHL in goals (33) and he’s on pace for 49 — a significant jump from his career high.
It’s an unusual development for a player deep into his prime at age 28, whose role on his team has not expanded in a notable way. Nylander is seeing nearly exactly the same amount of ice this season, playing just six fewer seconds a game than he did last season (19:49 vs. 19:55), and he’s being put in a similar position to score, spending most of his time on a line with John Tavares and skating more than 70 percent of his team’s power-play minutes.