Alex Nylander traded to Pittsburgh: Did Kyle Dubas miss the boat?
23-year-old forward Alex Nylander was traded from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday in exchange for 26-year-old forward Sam Lafferty.
While the move appears to be a minor one, the question needs to be asked; did Leafs GM Kyle Dubas miss the boat on bringing Alex to Toronto to play with his big brother William Nylander?
First and foremost, it's worth mentioning that in his draft year, many considered Alex to be the superior Nylander brother in terms of pure skill. Obviously, it hasn't worked out that way so far in the NHL.
William Nylander has been mostly excellent since being drafted 8th overall by the Leafs back in 2014, though his path to the NHL wasn't exactly a straight one. Nylander played one and a half seasons with the AHL's Toronto Marlies before being called up to the big club in 2015-16 and he did not disappoint, scoring 13 points in his first 22 National Hockey League games.
Since that time, Nylander has taken strides year over year to improve the different areas of his game. Prior to this season, there were a lot of questions surrounding his work ethic and his suggested unwillingness to play a two-way game. Those questions have been answered this season.
Nylander is tied for the team lead in points with Auston Matthews and captain John Tavares with 33 points, and he's doing exemplary work in all 3 zones. He has also begun taking shifts on the penalty kill, which came at his own request. Simply put, the doubters have been silenced.
Alex, on the other hand, has not played an NHL game in the last season and a half and has had a more difficult time sticking in the NHL than his big brother, despite showing flashes of exceptional skill.
Time will obviously tell us the answer to this question, but is Alex Nylander a bit of a late bloomer like his brother William in the sense that it has taken each player awhile to put it together?
We forget that Nylander had been given ample opportunity to find his game with the Leafs, playing with some top tier players along the way in Auston Matthews and John Tavares. Meanwhile, his younger brother was barely playing with the Buffalo Sabres, despite the fact that he was also a top-10 pick (8th overall in 2016).
When Alex was finally given a longer look in Chicago, he didn't exactly turn heads with any real frequency. He was held to just 26 points in 65 games with the Blackhawks in 2019-20 before missing the entire 2020-21 season.
I can't help but feel as though Nylander would have been an excellent buy-low candidate for Kyle Dubas. Moreover, there likely isn't a better player around to help him round out his game than his big brother in Toronto.
While Alex would very likely have started off with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL, I believe he could have benefitted from his change of scenery coming in Toronto, where he would have a top notch development staff to work with and William to show him the way.
At the end of the day, it just feels like Sam Lafferty, a 4th round pick back in 2014, was not a substantial ask.. and if that was the ask, the Leafs likely could have matched that without breaking a sweat.
Time will tell how this one all shakes out, but my position at this point is simply that the move was too low-risk for Dubas to not take a shot, unless he knows something the rest of us do not.
