Nylander draws very challenging assignment for Wednesday's game against Nashville in Matthews' absence, per Keefe
Yesterday at practice, William Nylander was taking reps between Michael Bunting and Pierre Engvall as Auston Matthews missed practice for a "maintenance day". With Sheldon Keefe confirming Matthews is out tonight against the Predators, the Leafs' bench boss moved Nylander to center, rather than shifting captain John Tavares up.
Keefe explained the reason for the decision, stating that moving Nylander to center was done so that he didn't have to disrupt the other lines too much as the bottom six and the second line of Calle Jarnkrok, John Tavares and Mitch Marner have been producing very well as of late.
Based on the fact Engvall was skating on the top line yesterday, he is projected to remain there for the game. Furthermore, Keefe said that depending on the situation and how the game goes, Engvall and Nylander could interchange at times.
It would be a reasonable expectation that the JT, Jarnkrok, Marner line could eat up the bulk of the minutes, acting as the team's top line for this one, with the Bunting, Nylander, Engvall line taking on more of a second line role. We'll have to wait and see.
| POLL | ||
11 JANVIER | 172 ANSWERS Nylander draws very challenging assignment for Wednesday's game against Nashville in Matthews' absence, per Keefe How will Nylander look playing as a top-six center tonight? | ||
| He'll be great! | 113 | 65.7 % |
| I'm concerned, but cautiously optimistic | 39 | 22.7 % |
| He's not a centerman.. this could be bad | 20 | 11.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
