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Tag: William Nylander

  • Game Recap – 1/23/2019 – Washington Capitals v. Toronto Maple Leafs

    Game Recap – 1/23/2019 – Washington Capitals v. Toronto Maple Leafs

    Washington Capitals (27-16-6 60pts) v. Toronto Maple Leafs (29-17-2 60pts)

     

    Game Recap:

    For the majority of the first period it was a major snoozer until the final couple of minutes when the Capitals got a powerplay when Patrick Marleau would be called for hooking. Nicklas Backstrom would net the powerplay goal to give the Capitals the 1-0 lead, but it would not last long as right away Nazem Kadri would poke the puck past Braden Holtby to tie the game at 1.

    Steve’s Analysis: Leafs had some jump at the beginning of the period but soon began to settle in. Trading shot for shot in one of the most boring periods I’ve seen. Backstrom scored on a Marleau penalty to make it 1-0 but a miscue by Holtby allowed Kadri to tie the game up with 24 seconds remaining.

     

    The second period would have a better start for the Capitals as the TJ Oshie would feed Alex Ovechkin on the rush and Ovechkin would rip it from the top of the faceoff circle past Frederik Andersen to give the Capitals the 2-1 lead. After some more back and forth between the two teams, the Maple Leafs would capitalize after a great defensive play by William Nylander that would lead to Nakita Zaitsev scoring his first of the season to tie the game at 2. Then Ovechkin would take a bad cross checking penalty to give the Maple Leafs the powerplay, which Auston Matthews would score on to get himself back on the score sheet while on the powerplay to give the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead going into the 2nd intermission.

    Steve’s Analysis: Leafs looked to be having one of those games again. But Zaitsev with an nice point shot tied it up and Matthews with a deadly studder step and snipe to break the slump and make it 3-2 Toronto heading to the 3rd.

     

    The third period would be all Maple Leafs the first 10 minutes of the period which would feature two more goals from Kadri to net the hat trick and give the Maple Leafs a three goal lead. The Capitals would get one back when Matt Niskanen bombed one from the point, but it would too late for the Capitals as Mitch Marner would then net the empty netter to seal this game for the Maple Leafs and give the Capitals their seventh straight loss going into the All Star Break.

    Steve’s Analysis: Leafs came to play in 3rd not letting Andersen’s great game go to waste. Kadri notched the Hat trick, along with 3 point for his line mate Nylander and Marner sealed the deal with an empty netter off of a Ovechkin giveaway in the neutral zone.

     

    Lineups:

    Washington Capitals:

    Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie

    Jakub Vrana — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson

    Dmitrij Jaskin — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly

    Chandler Stephenson — Travis Boyd — Andre Burakovsky

    Dmitry Orlov — John Carlson

    Michal Kempny — Matt Niskanen

    Madison Bowey — Jonas Siegenthaler

    Braden Holtby

    Pheonix Copley

    Scratched: Nic Dowd, Devante Smith-Pelly, Brooks Orpik

    Injured: Christian Djoos (thigh)

     

    Toronto Maple Leafs:

    Patrick Marleau — Auston Matthews — Mitchell Marner

    Zach Hyman — John Tavares — Kasperi Kapanen

    Connor Brown — Nazem Kadri — William Nylander

    Par Lindholm — Frederik Gauthier — Trevor Moore

    Morgan Rielly — Ron Hainsey

    Travis Dermott — Nikita Zaitsev

    Martin Marincin — Igor Ozhiganov

    Frederik Andersen

    Garret Sparks

    Scratched: Justin Holl

    Injured: Tyler Ennis (broken ankle), Andreas Johnsson (concussion), Jake Gardiner (back spasms)

     

    First Period:

    Maple Leafs Penalty – 16:49 – Patrick Marleau 2 minutes for Hooking

    Capitals PPG – 18:47 – Nicklas Backstrom (13) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (32) from John Carlson (39)

    Maple Leafs Goal – 19:34 – Nazem Kadri (11) from William Nylander (4) and Morgan Rielly (36)

     

    End of 1st – WAS – 1       TOR – 1

    Shots              10                08

    Faceoffs         05                18

    Hits               08                  03

    PP                 1/1                 0/0

     

    Second Period:

    Capitals Goal – 3:51 – Alex Ovechkin (37) from TJ Oshie (12) and Michal Kempny (11)

    Maple Leafs Goal – 13:11 – Nakita Zaitsev (1) from William Nylander (5) and Nazem Kadri (19)

    Capitals Penalty – 15:35 – Alex Ovechkin 2 minutes for Cross Checking

    Maple Leafs PPG – 16:19 – Auston Matthews (21) from Morgan Rielly (37)

     

    End of 2nd – WAS – 2        TOR – 3

    Shots               29                 26

    Faceoffs          14                 29

    Hits                 17                  09

    PP                   1/1                  1/1

     

    Third Period:

    Maple Leafs Goal – 2:10 – Nazem Kadri (12) from Connor Brown (13) and Martin Marincin (2)

    Maple Leafs Goal – 10:15 – Nazem Kadri (13) from Connor Brown (14) and William Nylander (6)

    Capitals Goal – 17:14 – Matt Niskanen (7) from TJ Oshie (13) and Nicklas Backstrom (38)

    Maple Leafs ENG – 19:27 – Mitch Marner (20) from unassisted

     

    End of 3rd – WAS – 3         TOR – 6

    Shots             44                     37

    Faceoffs        21                    38

    Hits               32                     15

    PP                 1/1                    1/1

     

    Next Up:

    Washington (27-16-6 60pts) v. Calgary (33-13-5 71pts) – February 1st

    Toronto (30-17-2 62pts) @ Detroit (19-25-7 45pts) – February 1st

  • December 2nd, 2018 — News and Notes

    December 2nd, 2018 — News and Notes

    Today is Sunday, December 2nd, 2018, and these are your news and notes…

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    There were 12 games that took place yesterday.

     

    OTTAWA 6, San Jose 2

     

    In the NHL European Game of the Week…

     

     

    The Ottawa Senators would defeat the San Jose Sharks 6-2 yesterday afternoon.  This matchup would mark the return of Sharks D Erik Karlsson to Ottawa for the first time since the offseason trade.

     

    Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot recorded his 30th point on the season, making him the third player to get to 30 points for a Senator defenceman in franchise history.

     

     

    Ottawa’s Ben Harpur would score his first NHL career goal in the win for the Senators.

     

    NY ISLANDERS 3, Columbus 2

     

    The New York Islanders would play their first contest in the newly renovated Nassau Coliseum last night of the season.

     

    Columbus Blue Jackets Cam Atkinson would extend his point streak to a career-best 10 contests and is only three games shy of tying the all-time franchise record set by Ryan Johansen in the 2014-15 season.

     

     

    Dallas 2, VANCOUVER 1

     

    Detroit 4, BOSTON 2

    The Detroit Red Wings snapped an eight-game regular-season winless streak against the Boston Bruins as the visitors when they defeated the Boston Bruins 4-2 last night.

     

    MONTREAL 5, NY Rangers 2

    In his return to action, Montreal Canadiens captain Shea Weber would score twice to help lift the Canadiens past the New York Rangers with a 5-2 win.

     

     

    Tampa Bay 5, FLORIDA 4 (OT)

     

    Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning score the 15th game winner, the most in the NHL since the 2017-18 season.

     

     

    Tampa Bay would go on to win the contest over the Florida Panthers 5-4 in overtime.

     

    Winnipeg 4, NEW JERSEY 3 (OT)

     

    Mark Schiefele would score the fifth regular-season overtime goal, the most in Winnipeg Jets franchise history with the Jets 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils last night.

     

    Philadelphia 4, PITTSBURGH 2

     

    Toronto 5, MINNESOTA 3

     

    The Toronto Maple Leafs would win their 10th road contest out of the 13 played thus far on the season with the 5-3 win over the Minnesota Wild.

     

     

    https://twitter.com/PR_NHL/status/1069237278592155654

     

    TXHT’s Toronto Maple Leafs contributor Steve Gardiner has your recap of the contest between the Maple Leafs and the Minnesota Wild at the following page.

     

    12/1/2018 – Toronto Maple Leafs v. Minnesota Wild – Game Day Recap

     

     

    NASHVILLE 5, Chicago 2

    The Nashville Predators would score three goals in the first five minutes of the contest and would go on to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2.

     

    ARIZONA 6, St. Louis 1

    There were six different players that scored for the Arizona Coyotes when they would go on to rout the St. Louis Blues by the score of 6-1.

     

    EDMONTON 2, Vegas 1

     

    NWHL

    In the NWHL contest from last night, the Connecticut Whale took on the Boston Pride in the NWHL Twitter Game of the Week.

     

    The Boston Pride would halt the Minnesota Whitecaps win streak at six games with the Pride’s 5-1 win at TRIA Rink last night.

     

    The contest would be scoreless for the first 17 minutes until  Mallory Souliotis scoredher first NWHL goal thanks to an assist from Amanda Pelkey to give the Pride the 1-0 lead.

     

    Jillian Dempsey would make the contest 2-0 before the end of the first period.

     

    Amanda Boulier would score the lone goal for the Whitecaps in the contest in the second period.

     

    The Boston Pride’s Hayley Skarupa would score on the power-play with 35 seconds left in the second period to give the Pride the 3-1 lead.

     

    In the third period Gigi Marvin would score both goals to give the Pride cement the 5-1 lead.

     

    The Minnesota Whitecaps look to take the win from the Boston Pride today at in front of another sold-out crowd at 2 p.m., CT and the game can be seen on NWHL.zone/watch

     

    The Metropolitan Riveters take on the Connecticut Whale today at 3:30pm, ET from the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Pittsburgh.

     

    TXHT’s Christopher Vasilas has your preview of the contest between the Riveters and the Whale at the following page.

     

    NWHL Game Preview – 12/2/2018 – Metropolitan Riveters v. Connecticut Whale

     

     

    In NHL news…

     

    The Toronto Maple Leafs and William Nylander came to terms on a six-year deal worth $41.77M deal, ending Nylander’s holdout.

     

     

     

     

     

    The NHL announced yesterday afternoon the NHL Three Stars of the Month.

     

     

     

     

     

    The NHL also announced today that the Buffalo Sabres Rasmus Dahlin has been named the NHL Rookie of the Month for the Month of November.

     

     

    Today there are six contests on the schedule…

     

  • Is the contract a Nylander problem or a Leafs front office issue?

    Is the contract a Nylander problem or a Leafs front office issue?

    I’ve heard the question posed in many circles in the last few months. Many people will point to front office and say “well they signed John Tavares with the contract of William Nylander looming, that tells me this is not a Nylander issue”. I’ve also heard it put the other way, some analysts and GM’s are saying “well, Nylander is asking for way too much money and won’t even bargain, he’s just not worth 8 million.”

    I finally want to put this rest and use some statistics to back up if William Nylander is worth 8 million a season. So let’s take a look.

    In Nylander’s last season with the Leafs he ranked…

    109th in goals

    59th in assists

    66th in points

    59th in points per 60 mins

    32nd in Primary assists

    He’s not trusted at center because he’s not defensively responsible

    You may ask why are some of these even matter in the grand scheme of a contract dispute. Well let me explain a bit. Goals, assists, points are fairly self explanatory most contracts are bargained off of these. But it’s the last 3 that make for intriguing points.  Point per 60 mins shows consistency in a players game, by determining how much they score every 60 minutes their on the ice you can begin to establish what you will be getting for your contract. Primary assists determine if the player (primarily playmakers) is the primary contributor on the team or if he plays a large role in getting his players the puck. Primary assist show the plays ability to get the puck to his teammates effectively. Defensive play majority of teams hold this in high regard, they just don’t want a guy they can stick on the powerplay or a guy that only gives everything in the offensive zone. They want players who will chase other players down when losing puck battles.

    Nylander is demanding 8 million a year because in his words he doesn’t want to be left behind when Matthews and Marner sign big contracts. He has also said he believes his play on the ice warrants 8 million. Let’s take a closer look at some comparables and see what they make.

    So 4 players made 8 million last season those names are…

    Phil Kessel who scored a whopping 92 points, 3.60 point per game, 1.33 goals per game and 2.27 assists per game. 40 of his 58 assists were primary. Since joining the Pens Kessel has improved his defensive play but still struggles at the best of times.

    Brent Burns – Do we really need reasons to justify why Brent Burns is better than William Nylander? I guess so.  Burns had 67 points, 1.94 point per 60 minutes, 0.35 goals per 60 mins and 1.59 assists per 60 mins 30 of his 50 assists were primary and Burns is one of the top defenders in the league. Perspective is needed here defencemen vs forward.

    Joe Thornton – only played 47 games accumulated 36 points. 2.51 point per 60 and 11 of his 23 assist were primary. 1.60 assist per 60 mins and 0.90 point per 60 mins.

    Ryan Johansen – Has a very injury riddle season last year but put up 54 points last season.  2.21 point per 60 mins, 0.61 goals per 60 mins, and 1.60 assists per 60 mins. Of his 39 assists 17 were primary.

    Johansen would be the only comparable but he has a track record to prove he’s having an off season.
    Others who were up there close to 8 million or just over are Ryan Getzlaf, Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, & Victor Hedman.

    All this stats work to say this… Nylander is asking for top 30 money but only putting numbers justifying being paid like a top 50 or 60 player. So the question is, Is this Leafs management trying to be cheap or Nylander trying to be greedy?

    I think the Stats and players mentioned above show that Nylander’s demands are much much more then he deserves according to his own numbers.

     

  • William Nylander Rumors Swirling

    William Nylander Rumors Swirling

    Training Camp, Pre-Season and 19 games into the regular season and here we still sit awaiting any movement from the Leafs only contract holdout this season William Nylander. For a while now we’ve heard GM Kyle Dubas state he is not trading Nylander and they will come to terms on an agreement. But as the deadline looms rumors have squeeked through the cracks and it appears Dubas is still looking to sign Nylander but now has accepted that the young forward might either sit out or they can trade him for some value.

     

    It was reported on November 10th by Elliot Friedman that the Leafs have indicated that Nylander is available and have asked teams to put forward what is available and what is not.

    https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1061442109868134400

     

    With that being said I want to give everyone an idea of what the packages are that have been floating around recently for Nylander.

    I’ve heard 4 teams are in hard for Nylander. 2 of the 4 teams are basically all hands on deck for Nylander.

    The 4 teams are Carolina, St.Louis, Los Angeles, and Anaheim

    The 2 teams that are all in are Carolina and St.Louis

    I’ve heard as many as 7 other teams have kicked tires, a few of those being New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, and Philadelphia Flyers. But it appears the asking price is too much for these teams. The Leafs seem to be wanting a top 4 defender and a top 9 winger. I will tell you some of the deals flying around out their and do my best to explain what the Leafs will be getting in return.

     

    Offer #1 – Anaheim and Toronto

    To Anaheim: William Nylander

    To Toronto: Brandon Montour and Nick Ritchie

    Montour is a 2nd round pick of the Anaheim Ducks who stepped onto their defence and has made significant contributions. Montour’s style of play is most likely compared to Tyson Barrie, which shouldn’t be very interesting for Toronto. Barrie is a turnover machine who gets caught out of position all the time. But Montour’s offensive upside is huge, he’s a great skater and has great vision. Nick Ritchie doesn’t really make much sense for Toronto, he hasn’t shown much offensive upside since coming to the NHL and seems like more of a player built for the truculence era. To me this deal doesn’t make much sense. The Leafs don’t need grit they are a speed/skill team and Montour is a younger version of Jake Gardiner.

     

    Offer #2 – Los Angeles and Toronto

    To LA: William Nylander

    To Toronto: Jake Muzzin, Adrian Kempe and a draft pick.

    Jake Muzzin is your prototype 2way defencemen, good wrister, good passer and pretty hard nosed in the defensive zone. He will block shots and has a good stick. Kind of the defender the Leafs are looking for. One problem exists Muzzin is 32 and I’m pretty sure the Leafs would rather keep the defencemen they get young. Kempe is an intriguing piece, he has some serious upside but has yet to show a lot in his short time. But this could be possible to the structure that the Kings have played. Once again not a fan of this deal for the reason of the age of Muzzin.

     

    Offer #3 – Toronto and St. Louis

    To St.Louis: William Nylander & Martin Marincin

    To Toronto: Colton Parayko & Nikita Soshnikov

    This deal feels like it’s NHL 19 and I want to smash the accept button. Colton Parayko is everything the Leafs could want in a defender and more. Great shot, blocks shots, hits, great first pass, right handed shot and he’s 6’6 and only 26. Getting rid of Marincin and getting Soshnikov back would only add to this deal. Love this deal for Toronto and is my 2nd favorite offer.

     

    Offer #4 – Toronto and Carolina

    To Carolina: Williams Nylander

    To Toronto: Brett Pesce, Teuvo Teravainen and a 1st round pick

    This deal is jaw dropping. Brett Pesce is considered by most scouts, and analysts to be an elite shutdown defender, who can skate and put some points on the board. Pesce is 6’3 and willing to do everything including block shots from Zdeno Chara. Teravainen offers some more scoring in the bottom 6 with potential to move up to the top 6 and the 1st round pick could be anything. This is my favorite deal as I am a huge fan of Pesce.

    But that’s all the information I got on the situation. If you have heard anything else be sure to hit me up in the comments or on twitter @gardskie.

     

    You can watch TXHT Live this Tuesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

  • William Nylander: To Sign or Not to Sign

    William Nylander: To Sign or Not to Sign

    We’re 5 days into the 2019 season and there’s one big looming question that is hanging over the Toronto Maple Leafs right now and that is…. Will William Nylander ever sign a contract?

    Let’s take a look at a few things surrounding this situation.

    The Situation:

    Nylander wants to sign a long term contract with the Leafs over a bridge deal.

    Kyle Dubas, GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, has stated in numerous occasions that the organization would love to have Nylander commit long term. In most situations this would be a good thing and show loyalty to a team. But in this situation it isn’t the term. It’s the money that Nylander is asking.

    It appears William Nylander’s camp is asking for a lot more. Now most believed that it was a negotiation and that both would eventually come to lesser terms on a long term deal. But Nylander’s camp seems to refuse to come off the $8M AAV. Also as you can see above Ehlers, Monahan and David Pastrnak, as well as Filip Forsberg are the names that the Leafs are clinging to as comparables. Which makes tremendous sense considering these 4 basically had the same production as Nylander and yet received between $6M – $6.7M AAV.

    The Player -William Nylander

    When William Nylander was drafted there were a few questions concerning his character. My reasons for bringing this up was because when Nylander was drafted the dread of this day was always lingering over the heads of management.

    Nylander was considered a top 12 talent in the NHL draft in 2014. All the top 12 interviewed him as he was easily considered one of the top 2 European talents in the draft, the other being Kasperi Kapanen. Scouts were all unanimous on his ability to anything in offensive zone amazingly. But there was 1 thing that scouts were not unanimous about…Was he anything like his father?

    Michael Nylander is a retired NHL player who played for 6 different teams in his NHL career. He wasn’t a superstar but a solid NHL player. But once again character came into question.

    “In his long NHL career, Michael Nylander had crossed paths with many of the NHL executives and scouts who were evaluating his son, and Michael Nylander hadn’t made a great impression on many of them. In the opinion of one NHL scout who had played with him, “He was a talented guy but a me-first type, selfish. He wasn’t a coach killer, but he wasn’t committed to the team concept. If he gets his goals, gets his contract . . . whatever he can get out of it.”

    Another who played with Michael called him “the worst teammate I ever had . . . it was always all about him.”

    That Michael played for himself was a common view. Not that he was poison in the dressing room — it was just that he wasn’t what guys thought of as a good soldier, not even a soldier for hire, or a teammate first.”

    JOYCE, GARE. YOUNG LEAFS: the Making of a New Hockey History. SIMON & SCHUSTER, 2018.

    The real worry was will the younger Nylander turn out to be like his father. Scouts were split down the middle. Some stating that….

    “He grew up around NHL arenas, so he knows the drill. Polite, considered his answers, didn’t tell you what he thought you wanted to hear. Talking to him, I didn’t get the idea that he was aware of his father’s reputation around the league.”

    While other GMs gave…

    “Nylander high grades based on performance came away from the combine pegging him as aloof and “really full of himself.”

    The worry with Nylander was always that he would become his father, not putting the team first in negotiations or on the ice. Nylander seemed to be bigger than that so far into his career but most GMs believed that we might not see the real Nylander until contract discussions began. Now I won’t comment on whether or not I feel Nylander is showing his true character or not. But I will leave this, in a statement last week when asked about his contract talks Nylander stated this….

    “In the end I have to take care of myself and do what I and my agent thinks is right. Especially if it’s about several years to come. I need to think long term. It’s my own future it’s about.”

    Are the Leafs desperate?

    Toronto sits at 2-1 for the season after defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 7-6 tonight in Overtime. The Leafs have scored 13 goals in 3 games thats an average of 4.33 goals for per game. Offence is not the problem, Nylander might want to be a little careful. It’s the defence of Toronto that needs work and that potentially could be addressed by the rumors of trading Nylander for some defence.

    Also let’s face some facts. No one will offer sheet Nylander because at 7.5M or 8M that is a lot of picks for sacrifice for a one dimensional player, who seems to cower in the corners.

    But as of now the Leafs are not desperate and totally plan to play the waiting game. But for Nylander every game means a loss of money.

     

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