Craig Berube Offers Honest Assessment of Alex Nylander After Maple Leafs Debut
Craig Berube was encouraged by the play of Alex Nylander in his Maple Leafs debut and shared his thoughts on being able to get him on the ice with his brother.
Alex Nylander signed a 1-year deal with the Maple Leafs on Friday and was immediately recalled from the AHL's Toronto Marlies, setting up a reunion with his big brother, William Nylander.
Thanks to the absence of several key forwards, Alex made his Leafs debut alongside his brother William Nylander on Sunday.
The brothers were thrilled about the opportunity to play together, but Berube had different ideas as he had them on separate lines at practice Saturday.
Naturally, Chief found moments where he was able to get the brothers out together on a few shifts, including after a penalty kill with John Tavares.
William doubled his brother's ice-time with over 22 minutes, but in his 10:37 of ice-time Alex looked good. He registered two shots on goal and had a handful of chances and Berube was pleased overall with his performance.
As the Leafs slowly get healthy, with Auston Matthews expected to return on Wednesday and Matthew Knies resuming skating on Sunday, the Leafs will face some difficult roster decisions over the next few weeks, but based on his usage, Alex Nylander appears set to get more than a one-game audition with the Leafs over Alex Steeves and potentially even rookie center Fraser Minten.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 25 | 3622 ANSWERS Craig Berube Offers Honest Assessment of Alex Nylander After Maple Leafs Debut Were you impressed with Alex Nylander's debut? | ||
| Yes | 1458 | 40.3 % |
| No | 436 | 12 % |
| He didn't make any glaring mistakes so that's good | 1046 | 28.9 % |
| Need to see more of him | 682 | 18.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
