The William Nylander practice story is not the first time he checked out on the Maple Leafs this season
Photo credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images
William Nylander may have some attitude issues to tend to considering a new story shows a pattern of complacency that has caused some serious problems.
William Nylander flipped off the camera, didn't take practice seriously and then called out his head coach. The Maple Leafs superstar is no doubt an elite player, but one with an attitude problem that extends beyond one moment.
You can't deny that William Nylander was one of the brightest parts of the Toronto Maple Leafs' miserable 2025-26 season. With 79 points in only 65 games, he was yet again elite and showcased a much more creative style of play that led him to having his most assists in two years, but not everything was perfect.
William Nylander flipped off the cameras first, and now this practice story makes that moment more poignant
He was reprimanded for flipping off the camera in the player's box during a broadcast which immediately made Maple Leafs fans question his thought process. Prior to that, he was called out for not shooting more, but it's his consistent attitude with former head coach Craig Berube that's really drawn attention.
Sportsnet's Luke Fox revealed a story about Nylander and Berube late in the season, long after Auston Matthews was taken out for the year. Fox noted that Nylander wasn't playing with enough heart for Berube, who paused the drill and implored Nylander to try harder.
Well, he didn't take too kindly to that and immediately fired a shot without a pass on the next go, completely spitting in the face of his coach's instructions:
I felt like there was a generational gap. I'll tell you a story. There was a practice at the end of the year when things started to go sideways and Nylander was coasting through the power-play drill, not passing the puck with purpose and not shooting it.
Berube yells 'Willy shoot the puck! If you have a look, take a look and shoot!' They start again and he immediately shoots it. Doesn't even do the drill. Berube says 'Willy, stop being such a d-word', you know he tried to have fun but Nylander never took it seriously right?
Berube yells 'Willy shoot the puck! If you have a look, take a look and shoot!' They start again and he immediately shoots it. Doesn't even do the drill. Berube says 'Willy, stop being such a d-word', you know he tried to have fun but Nylander never took it seriously right?
While 'Chief' was obviously trying to have fun with Nylander, you have to understand there is certainly an air of reality and frustration in that comment. There was no reason for Nylander not to care, and as a leader both on and off the ice, it was unacceptable to Berube for his star player to give up.
But this isn't a new development, and Berube himself admitted his unique relationship with Nylander as he tended to let him kind of get away with anything, and felt like he stopped trying to push his vision onto deaf ears.
After publicly admitting that he let's Nylander do his thing, it's not a slight on Berube because Nylander has simply trained his coaches to just deal with him and whoever comes in has to deal with the exact same thing.
Nylander gets his nickname 'Willy Styles' for his creative handles on the ice and his fashion off it. But with that brash and confident personality also comes with an attitude problem, and one that needs fixing sooner than later.
Toronto is paying Nylander $11.5-million to lead by example and he's failing in that regard
There's many reasons you pay superstars a ton of money to play for your team. A lot of that comes on the ice with offence, defence, goaltending, whatever; but also what you're bringing away from the game.
We don't really get to see what happens in practice unless there's small snippets from a reporter hanging about. There are probably several other instances that we didn't hear or see that caused tension between Nylander and Berube.
But paying him that much money while also giving him carte blanche to do what he wants is a recipe for disaster. If he doesn't listen to the coach, then why would anyone else? If Toronto is happy paying him a boatload of money to play by the beat of his own drum, then why even have a coach? Just let anarchy reign at that point.
As a star player and pillar of the team for the last decade, Nylander has to grow up a bit. Practice isn't fun, but it's not like he's doing 500 bag skates a week.
He had issues with a power-play drill, which for all intents and purposes is not that intensive, but I guarantee you that John Tavares wouldn't be doing this type of stuff.
Mats Sundin talked a lot about a change in culture for the Maple Leafs as a whole, and with his deep connection to Nylander perhaps he can get in his ear and explain that being part of a leader on this team involves putting in the work that nobody sees.
If that message falls through though and we still get the same Nylander attitude issues then it might be time to see if another team is willing to deal with such sophomoric behaviour.
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