Craig Berube offers critical update regarding the status of William Nylander after leaving game

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Chris Gerics
September 27, 2024 (8:44)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs seemed to have another injury scare after William Nylander went down with an injury on Thursday, and head coach Craig Berube now has an update.

On Thursday night, William Nylander took a nasty spill after a push off from teammate Nick Robertson while trying to get the offense going, and Nylander ended up tripping and falling into the knee of a Montreal Canadiens player:

It was a terrifying incident that made Maple Leafs fans weary, as they are already missing superstar and captain Auston Matthews due to an injury suffered in practice. A blow to another one of their top stars would not bode well for the start of the season, however head coach Craig Berube has provided an update regarding the newly transitioned center, and Maple Leafs fans can breathe a sigh of relief.

Speaking to the media after the game, Berube was very stoic and to the point when it came to Nylander's status:

It wasn't just the head coach who was able to provide a bit of insight into Nylander's injury, as former captain John Tavares; who also looked to suffer a possible injury last night as well, told reporters that the information given to the players about Nylander was good news in the end:

The catalyst of the injury was a seemingly innocent play by Leafs forward Nick Robertson, who acknowledged that he was trying to help Nylander and the subsequent fall was just a freak accident:

Berube echoed Tavares' notion that all was well with the Swedish forward, and taking him out as a precaution in order to make sure he's 100% healthy is the best possible course of action. Losing Nylander would have been a massive hit to the Maple Leafs, as not only is he in the midst of a transition to center under Craig Berube but is coming off of back to back 40-goal seasons.

He is a key piece to the Maple Leafs success and him missing any amount of time could spell disaster quickly for the team; he hasn't missed too many games due to injury in his career, and the team can't afford any setbacks especially starting now. The son of former NHLer Michael Nylander, William has 217 goals and 311 assists in 603 games over the last 9 seasons with Toronto since being drafted 8th overall in 2014; he's also been a solid playoff contributor with 43 points in 54 games, a number the Maple Leafs need him to add to in hopes of a deep playoff run.

The injury bug seems to be out in full force for the Maple Leafs, as the team is already dealing with injuries to Auston Matthews, Calle Karnkrok, Steven Lorentz, Jani Hakanpaa, Connor Dewar, Fraser Minten, and Ben Danford. John Tavares took a cheap shot last night that could have been disastrous for the team but he was able to come back and even opened the game's scoring shortly after returning:

It's a positive sign to see Tavares return so soon after a scary incident and hearing that everything is okay with Nylander is fantastic news. The Maple Leafs did a lot this offseason to try and turn things around and for it only to be ravaged by injuries they can't control will make fans lives miserable. It feels for the first time in a long time the Maple Leafs have a more complete and deep roster, and fans are genuinely excited for the changes and how they'll help Toronto; injury setbacks completely negate that excitement and anticipation. Fans can breathe a sigh of relief and be thankful it's nothing too serious; the same thing they're hoping for with Matthews et al.

Nick Robertson made a uncalculated decision and ended up creating a possibly catastrophic scenario for the sake of trying to be cute. As much as it was a fluke Nylander fell, he's clearly capable enough of getting into the zone on his own. Robertson seemed to be the one who didn't want to follow suit and let Nylander do the work; a great impression for sure.

Craig Berube can sleep easy knowing that the injury scare to William Nylander is nothing serious, but it very easily could have turned into Toronto's worst nightmare.