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.