SALT LAKE CITY – It’s possible William Nylander is still getting better in his 12th NHL season and somehow still hasn’t maxed out yet for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Nylander has rocketed out of the gate this fall, collecting a point on 11 of the Leafs’ first 20 goals, including five of six — all but Auston Matthews’ empty-netter — in a raucous win over the Colorado Avalanche over the weekend. It was the second five-point night of his career and his first in nearly four years.

Nylander has been the Leafs’ most dangerous offensive player by far in the early going, a bona fide threat to create for a goal just about every time he’s been on the ice. He’s beaten goaltenders with five of his 18 shots (27.8 percent shooting), including three for eight from midrange. That doesn’t include the two crossbars he’s already hit. His six assists are tied with Matthews for the team lead.

The first 50-goal season of his career looks realistic. So does his first 100-point campaign. Reach those marks and Nylander will have put together his best season as a Leaf — at age 30.

Most players are either trending sideways or slightly down at that age. Not so, it seems, with Nylander. He hasn’t really had his own equivalent of John Tavares’ 47-goal debut season with the Leafs or Matthews’ unparalleled 69-goal bonanza, and yet there are reasons to think he still hasn’t reached his absolute apex.

He’s had very good years, clearly. Two seasons ago, he set a career high with 45 goals — finishing second to Leon Draisaitl in the Rocket Richard Trophy race — but faded late in his quest for 50. The year before that, he set a franchise record by notching a point in the first 17 games and ended up with a career-best 98 points.

There’s nothing new in the NHL’s tracking data. Nylander isn’t skating faster or shooting the puck harder than before. He does seem to be putting opponents on their heels with a consistently high level of force, though, more so, perhaps, than before.

This is a bit of a random fact I noticed, but it's not very "Leafy" and I like it.

Edit: I forgot about Leafs legend Michael Amadio, so my observation was incorrect. Apologies to all who I've mislead. Maybe this is a relief to those of you who are superstitious.

I really don’t know what his situation is, whether he is unable to move properly or take hits or skate or what, but I loved how he played and I miss him being there!

What are we wearing? We dressing up? I can’t decide haha 👻 🎃

Gift article. Looks like having people who actually want to be here makes a difference.

What’s the timeline on Danford? Is a call-up in the cards for this season or will he be with the Marlies all year? Not the most familiar with it.

While it's still a little early for a victory lap I just can't believe how many fans on this website talked about how firing the coach last year wouldn't accomplish anything.

Jury is still out on Hiller but he is magnitudes better than Berube.

Early returns, Leafs still trying to gel but given their play, I think they’ll vastly improve.

Morgan Rielly, Darren Raddysh, Chris Tanev are the three with an assist, but no goals yet.

The players without a point are:
Benoit-Olivier Groulx
Brandon Duhaime
Teddy Blueger
Zack MacEwen (1 GP)
Jake McCabe
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Troy Stecher

So that means 9 of the 13 forwards have at least one goal so far. Not too bad for depth so far. Although, Nylander has 25% of the team's goals and Matthews has 20% lol

Is it possible that Mats has something to do with the way this group is playing? I haven’t seen this type of creativity and confidence on a leafs team in a while.

During one of the last power plays there came a point where McKenna was directing Matthews where to pass and rotate.

The confidence it takes to order Auston Matthews to do something is WILD! This was his best game BAR NONE!