Down on one knee, William Nylander roofed a puck over Utah Mammoth goaltender Vitek Vanecek on Wednesday for his sixth goal of the season. He celebrated the goal and the fact that this is his best start to a season in his NHL career.
The 29-year-old has collected 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in his first 11 games, putting him in a six-way tie for second among NHL skaters. None of those six players — or the three with 21 points — have played less than 13 games.
"I think he's always scored lots of goals, but I think this year he's making more plays with the puck and getting assists," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said on Friday. "Like I said before, he's an underrated passer. I mean, he's a good playmaker, but he's always scored a lot of goals."
What stands out most about Nylander's start this season, beyond others, is the amount of primary assists he's racked up. Eleven of the Swede's 14 helpers this year are primary assists, tying him for the league lead with Evgeni Malkin in that department.
Within the Maple Leafs, only Matthew Knies — who's also gotten off to a wicked start — is near Nylander for primary assists with nine (four of his 13 helpers are secondary assists).
One of Nylander's best games this year came during a comeback win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night. Auston Matthews started the scoring early in the third period (with Nylander getting a secondary assist). Nylander followed up with two goals of his own to tie the game, and Bobby McMann scored the game-winner.
'It's Unacceptable': Maple Leafs Unhappy With Play Against Penguins Despite Comeback WinThe Maple Leafs were outshot 25-8 in the first two periods before scoring four straight goals in a third-period comeback against Pittsburgh."For me, I just think it's his timely goal-scoring. The quality of goals in big spots, in big moments," Anthony Stolarz said of what he's noticed about Nylander's start to the year.
"He's stepped up in a big way and I think the guys have rallied around that."
Below is Nylander's production throughout the first 11 games of the season over his career:
2016-17: 4G, 7A, 11P
2017-18: 3G, 6A, 9P
2018-19 (started late): 0G, 2A, 2P
2019-20: 3G, 4A, 7P
2020-21: 4G, 8A, 12P
2021-22: 5G, 4A, 9P
2022-23: 4G, 7A, 11P
2023-24: 6G, 9A, 15P
2024-25: 8G, 4A, 12P
2025-26: 6G, 14A, 20P
"Just trying to play better hockey every year," Nylander said on Friday, "just trying to work on my game every year and try to get better, so it's nice to see that I'm getting rewarded for it."
Despite missing a couple of games early, Nylander's production has contributed to Toronto winning games. Fourteen of his 20 points to begin the season have come during Maple Leafs wins. And after a shaky start in October, the club has put together three straight wins to begin November.
What's been the key to that success?
"I don’t know, we had a great Halloween party in Philly," said Nylander, who went to the party dressed as Darth Vader.
As to why he chose Darth Vader, Nylander smiled: "We ordered the costumes day of, so I mean, we didn’t have much planning to do."
Nylander and the Maple Leafs will look to continue trending upwards on Saturday night, when they welcome the Boston Bruins and former Maple Leaf, Fraser Minten, into town. The Bruins are one point up on Toronto for third in the Atlantic Division with two more games played.
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