Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander missed the first three games of the team’s first-round playoff matchup against the Boston Bruins.
Nylander played all 82 games during the regular season, but in the first three games, he was not in the lineup which was a bit of a surprise, and no reason was given.
On May 4, following Toronto losing 2-1 in overtime to the Bruins, Nylander revealed it was migraines that kept him out of the lineup.
“I don’t know exactly what it was. They just kept me precautionary to see what was going on. I had had a migraine, but in case it could have been a concussion. So once I started feeling better, they let me play,” Nylander said to the media on May 4.
When asked why Nylander couldn’t play with the migraine, he says his vision was going as he had a hard time seeing.
“I mean, this situation is very complicated, it’s hard to explain exactly what it is. My vision goes, I can’t really see out of my eyes, it gets messed up. It’s hard to play,” Nylander added.
Nylander played in four games in the playoff series against Boston and scored 3 goals.
Nylander Defends Core Four
Following Toronto’s playoff loss to Boston, Nylander defended his teammates.
The Maple Leafs have just one playoff series win in their last nine playoff series, but despite the struggles, Nylander doesn’t think the issue is with the core four of himself, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares.
“I don’t think there’s an issue with the core. I think we were (expletive) right there all series, battled hard and got it to Game 7 and OT. That’s a (expletive) feeling… The fact that battled back from 3-1 down. Brought it to Game 7 OT. We had a great group of guys so it really sucks,” Nylander said, via Sportsnet.
Toronto head coach Sheldon Kefee was also pleased with his core players and rallying to bring this series to a Game 7.
“We’ve been talking about this for a long time and we’ve tried to break through for a long time,” Keefe said. “So, you know, any answer is going to fall on deaf ears in that sense. And I get that. All I’ll say is that the group pulled together to me, and the way it pulled together here in this last week, and through the season, this group was different this year. The core you’re referring to isn’t different. The guys around were different, the feeling around the team was different, we played different.”
Marner, Nylander, Matthews, and Tavares are all under contract for the 2024-25 NHL season.
Nylander’s New Contract Kicks in Next Season
Nylander played out the final year of the six-year deal he signed in December of 2018.
During the 2023-24 NHL season, Nylander signed a eight-year extension worth $11.5 million per season. The contract starts next season and runs through the 2031-32 NHL season, and the Swede has a full no movement clause during the entirety of the contract.
This past season, Nylander recorded 40 goals and 58 assists for 98 games as he played all 82 games.
Nylander was drafted eighth overall in the 2014 NHL Draft by the Maple Leafs.
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