Toronto Maple Leafs star forward William Nylander has opened up on the pressure of playing in Toronto.
Toronto is often considered the center of the hockey universe, as the fans are extremely passionate. However, the Maple Leafs haven’t been able to get over the hump as Toronto hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967.
With that, the pressure to win is at an all-time high, and Nylander says the pressure of playing in Toronto is ‘not an easy battle,’ but he does enjoy playing for the Maple Leafs.
“Yeah, I mean, I think people forget that we as players also want to win,” Nylander said to Sirius XM. “So, I mean, I think we have our goal to want to go all the way. I’ve been playing there for a while, but I don’t know, I don’t really think about what other people say or what their opinion is on how we’re playing. We inside the locker room know what we need to do. It’s not an easy battle, you’ve got to appreciate the grind it takes when you eventually get to that point.”
Nylander says the entire team is bought into the group and is confident that the team will be able to get over the hump. But, as he says, he enjoys the pressure of being in Toronto as he wants to help the Maple Leafs win.
Nylander is entering the second year of an eight-year, $92 million deal. He recorded 45 goals and 39 assists for 84 points in 82 games last season.
Nylander Opens up on Marner Leaving Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs saw star player Mitch Marner leave this offseason in a sign-and-trade with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Nylander has played his entire career with Marner, so he was sad to see him leave. But, he says the focus turns back to the Maple Leafs and trying to get Toronto to hoist the Stanley Cup.
“It’s tough seeing him go but I’m so happy for him and his family,” Nylander said to NHL.com. “He got to pick where he went so, in that aspect, I’m happy for him. We’re going to miss him a lot but that’s just the business of the sport. That’s the way it is. So we’ve got to regroup as a team and figure out a way to keep winning games.”
However, Nylander wants to make it clear that Marner didn’t think of leaving Toronto until the offseason, as his focus was on helping the Maple Leafs win.
“Not sure where that stuff comes from, but I don’t think he was ever thinking of leaving ahead of time,” Nylander said. “I actually asked him during the season and he said he was concentrating on Toronto. I didn’t want to press him on that and let him be because it was obviously on his mind, but his play was focused on helping us. Then I asked him after the season and he wasn’t sure.”
Toronto was eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Florida Panthers.
Nylander Expects Maple Leafs to Build Off Last Season
Although Toronto had another playoff disappointment, Nylander expects the team to have success next season.
The Maple Leafs have done a good job rebuilding their bottom-six, and Nylander expects them to learn from last season.
“It was probably one of our best seasons since I’ve been in Toronto,” Nylander said. “I mean, we pushed Florida to the limit. We had a couple of [bad] games against them, Games 5 and 7, but for the most part we were right there in that series. So I think we can really build off that and learn from what we did wrong to be better in those situations.”
The Maple Leafs open their season on October 8 against the Montreal Canadiens.
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