It's Tom Wilson, future Olympian and formerly despised pariah. Please forgive me; I'm about to piss a lot of you off with a graph. Here is Tom Wilson compared to pest-cum-superstar Brad Marchand: Except for Wilson's ACL injury, they're the same dude. They're a low-ice-time drama king who slowly worked his way up the lineup. Now they're indispensable, but they're still drama kings.
At any rate, we got into full analysis and breakdown of their 3-2 OT loss against San Jose. Firstly, they got a point, so that means the point streak is now up to six games (4-0-2). That said, there's no question that they let that game slip away. John Klingberg tied it with 1:25 left in regulation, then Alex Wennberg potted the OT winner. And yes, we did discuss the carelessness with the puck from William Nylander and Auston Matthews late in the game.
What is your reaction to the Bobby McMann one-game suspension, given that you also lost a player to injury in Dakota Mermis? Berube: To be honest with you, I don't really know. We lose a guy for probably a month at least, and there was nothing that I've heard. [Bobby's] wasn't much... I thought it was more him getting bumped. I know you have to be in control of your stick, but I don't think it is worth a suspension.
Nylander spoke about his relationship with his coach during an interview with The Athletic's Jonas Siegel, touching on how beneficial Berube has been in playing a simple game. "He's very easy to talk to," Nylander said. "It's like any coach. Sometimes you butt heads, and you get into it now and then. But that's different. That's the hockey part. But he's also just a regular person that you can talk to about whatever."
Nylander was ruled out of Saturday's game against the Buffalo Sabres with an unspecified injury. He left during the third period of Friday's game against the Sabres after getting hit by Buffalo's Jason Zucker. Nylander leads all Maple Leafs with 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) in eight games. "He needs to feel right. It's hard to him to know until game time, until warmup," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said Tuesday morning.
Auston Matthews has been locked with winger Matthew Knies to start the season but for a jolt of offense, Berube decided to have William Nylander on Matthews's right and gutsy winger Bobby McMann on his left. This new-look first line received some praise from the bench boss. "They looked really good," Berube said of Matthews and Nylander playing together Friday night. "They were quick. They supported each other really well and were strong on pucks. There was a lot of offensive-zone time. A lot of good things from that line."
Tavares seems to be the most underrated leader on this team and possibly in the entire NHL. He had the awareness to walk away from the captaincy, hand it over to a player in Auston Matthews who is the true future of the franchise and was already the leader on the ice, and then took a massive pay cut to remain with the Leafs and give them enough financial flexibility to possibly remain competitive.
In terms of where he ranks among his right wing peers, Nylander is tied for fifth overall, with Tampa Bay Lightning's Nikita Kucherov coming at the top with 96 overall, Boston Bruins and Nylander's own best bud David Pastrnak placing second with 94 overall, Mikko Rantanen in third with 93 overall, and then reigning Stanley Cup champion Sam Reinhart rounding out the group who are rated above Nylander.
"Not sure where that stuff comes from, but I don't think he was ever thinking of leaving ahead of time," Nylander said via NHL.com. "I actually asked him during the season and he said he was concentrating on Toronto. I didn't want to press him on that and let him be because it was obviously on his mind, but his play was focused on helping us. Then I asked him after the season and he wasn't sure."
