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William Nylander Publicly Blasted Following Dismissive Comments About Leafs' Losing Streak

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Ryan Smitheram
January 16, 2025  (6:02 PM)
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William Nylander is the latest member of the Leafs' Core 4 to face scrutiny over his controversial comments following the team's 3rd consecutive loss.

Days after Mitch Marner faced public backlash for his controversial post-game comments on Saturday, after a loss to the Vancouver Canucks, William Nylander has now come under fire for some comments of his own.

Following practice on Wednesday, the former first-round pick made some questionable comments about being booed off the ice Saturday, sparking outrage from fans over his seeming lack of concern regarding the Leafs' current three-game slide.

"Good teams find their way out of this. And, I mean, it's only been three games, so what's the big deal, really," said the Calgary-born Swede.

After calling out Marner for his comments on Saturday, Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee did the same on Wednesday following Nylander's comments.

In his comments, Bourne mentioned the clip of 'Jumbo' Joe Thornton from the Amazon series where he seemingly didn't care, and ironically, the Leafs' three-game losing streak comes on the heels of the now retired NHLer joining the team on their mentors trip.

"This is a stretch of games where you're coming up against good teams and let's measure ourselves against Carolina. Let's measure ourselves against Dallas and you don't get the win. The big deal is this is Joe Thornton in the Amazon doc (All or Nothing). They called him in and said we have some issues here and Joe said 'we're in first place. What're we worried about? We're in first place.' It's the process."

McKee, on the other hand, expressed his frustration with Nylander's comments, saying what every Leafs fan was thinking when they first heard the remarks.

"That quote there, it's not three games Willy -- it's eight years. It's eight years of this 'What's the big deal?' is so hurtful to me. It's the big deal that there's tens of millions of people that pour their heart and soul as a fan into this, watching crappy games, and you're making $11.5M and look awful for two, three weeks."

McKee is bang-on with his view of Nylander's comments. The team has just one series win in eight years and all the fans want is for the team to admit when something isn't working, take accountability and correct the mistakes.

The Leafs return to action Thursday, welcoming former head coach Sheldon Keefe back to Toronto for the first time and will look to end their 3-game slide. They have already beaten the Devils twice this season so another game against their former coach may be just what the doctor ordered for them to snap out of their skid.

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William Nylander Publicly Blasted Following Dismissive Comments About Leafs' Losing Streak

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