New Role Expected for William Nylander, at Least for the Pre-season
A change in how the Maple Leafs deploy William Nylander is expected, at least for the upcoming pre-season.
Prior to last season, Brad Treliving wanted to see if William Nylander could play down the middle to create more depth for the Leafs at that position. Unfortunately, as Jonas Siegel explained on TSN 1050's 'First Up' on Thursday morning, the experiment didn't last long at all thanks to one specific reason.
"So look what happened last year. The first day of training camp - the biggest story of the day - they're moving William Nylander to center. Sheldon Keefe explains it was Brad Treliving's idea, he wants to see Nylander at center. They give it a week, he doesn't even play a regular season game. Put the pieces together and you're thinking we know the GM wants to see this and thinks there is something there. The previous head coach did not believe in it, clearly. He moved Fraser Minten into that spot when he had not played in the NHL ahead of Nylander." With Keefe gone, however, Siegel believes that the experiment will at least last throughout the pre-season and would make the most sense for the Leafs in the long-term.
"Why would they not give Nylander another look at center and try to go with Matthews, Nylander, Tavares as their three centers? I think it makes sense. I don't see a better option... It gives them an opportunity to build some depth through three lines. I think it's the best play long term. If you make Nylander center and it works, you have your top two centers for the next four years and suddenly you're better set up at center than if you just kept him on the wing."
Not only would it give the Leafs ample depth down the middle this season, but it would give the Leafs stability at center for at least the length of Auston Matthews' current contract and allow them to spend money elsewhere.
With camp opening next week, it will be something to keep an eye on as to how fast Craig Berube shifts Nylander to the middle and how long he stays there. It's very possible that Treliving and Berube have spoken about this and are in agreement to give the move some actual runway to work out.
Time will tell if this is indeed the plan, but if it's not, the Leafs still have a glaring hole at the 3C spot that they need filled, and I'm not quite sure Steven Lorentz is the answer, even if his PTO is successful.
| POLL |
SEPTEMBRE 13 | 593 ANSWERS New Role Expected for William Nylander, at Least for the Pre-season How many games will Nylander play at center? |
| 0-training camp only | 130 | 21.9 % |
| 1-20 | 302 | 50.9 % |
| 21-40 | 111 | 18.7 % |
| 41+ | 50 | 8.4 % |
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