William Nylander changing position this season: This time it's for real

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River Hawk
September 18, 2024 (11:00)

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After a half-cooked attempt by Sheldon Keefe last year, reports indicate that William Nylander will play center for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the upcoming season.

The NHL season is only weeks away, and one of the top teams fans are looking at for a lineup change is the Toronto Maple Leafs. After another playoff run was cut short, management finally made the move to pass down the captaincy from an aging John Tavares to a leading goal-scorer Auston Matthews.

Upon this adjustment, many analysts had wondered if the team would also move their former captain down to the third-line center position, but no room left in the cap for a high-production center, no clear option was left. However, after only playing in the position in Toronto exhibition games, William Nylander is set to start training camp in the second-line center position for the second consecutive year. According to Jonas Siegel of The Athletic, this shift should last much longer provided a clean slate with their new coach Craig Berube. This, he states, can finally let John Tavares move into the position many hoped he would play.

"Nylander should start camp at centre for the second year in a row, only this time it won't be a halfhearted experiment. Not like last fall when then-Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe pulled the plug after two exhibition games. Nylander will need time to acclimate to a position he's barely played in the NHL and I have to think new Leafs coach Craig Berube will give it to him. Unlike Keefe, who coached Nylander from his earliest days in the organization, Berube has no baggage (good or bad) with Nylander. No reason to think he can't make the transition. If he can do it, the Leafs will finally be able to ease John Tavares' burden, dropping him down, presumably, into 3C territory on a more permanent basis while lightening his minutes and competition slightly."

During the 2022-23 regular season, William Nylander was second on the team in total points (87) behind Mitch Marner (99) and tied with Auston Matthews for the most goals on the team (40) in 82 games. Despite having been drafted as a center, he instead played on the right wing. For many, this made him the best choice then to take over the 2C role, and Toronto's management seemed to agree. Sheldon Keefe shared that William Nylander would start at that position in training camp and was comfortable with it. NHL Insider Chris Johnston shared in a phone interview on TSN that this now-former coach was likely to give the forward an extended look at that position, simply because the other options to fill in on the third line were Max Domi, who mostly plays left wing, or David Kampf, who was usually a fourth-liner.

"It's well, that's the question for me. Certainly with the four group just because, you know, I won't say they're lacking depth, but they're lacking, maybe, an obvious option, because, you know David Kampf, you know, well, they obviously like him again before your contract in the offseason. I think you, you kind of have them take there's your fourth-line center and there isn't an obvious other option. I mean, Max Domi did play a lot of center last year in Chicago and even in Dallas after going over there at the deadline. I suppose he, you know, could be that the guy shifted over but it's probably not what you want to do entering the season and so, you know, the way I look at it is absent some sort of trade, which I guess maybe happens near the deadline, although I don't see it the Leafs having a ton of cap space then. Yeah, I think that this is one of those experiments that it really kind of has to work, and it's probably the main reason that you're going to see them give it, you know, a real length of time here because I don't think that there is an obvious Plan B that's sitting at the ready here. I mean, I guess maybe the answer is Kampf is playing as a third-line center and, you know, calling someone up from the Marlies to play on the fourth line and then just making it work from there. But, you know, clearly they think that they're better to have three lines looking for some scoring from and typically David Kampf hasn't played on lines that are counted on for offense. So, you know, I think that this is probably why it's going to be given a real length of time here to work. And then, you know, adjust from there."

Of course, now we know that the Toronto Maple Leafs did not keep William Nylander in this role and moved him back to the top right-wing position after only two games during the preseason. After Sheldon Keefe could not commit to a choice long enough for it to even start working, the Toronto Maple Leafs had another depressing outcome: another Game 7 first-round playoff exit against the Boston Bruins. Meanwhile, the #88 player had a career season, posting another 40 goals and 98 total points in 82 regular season games. In a recent interview on TSN's First Up with Korolnek and Colaiacovo, Jonas Siegel first reported his expectations that William Nylander would take over the role this preseason again, but for a much more serious attempt for a reason he did not mention in his later article. Aside from their offseason activity, he shared that General Manager Brad Treliving was the person who wanted to put him in that position, but Sheldon Keefe was the one who did not believe it was the right fit and instead moved in Fraser Minten. At that point, he had not played in the NHL and now has only appeared on the ice in the league four times, totaling 46 minutes.

"Well, so look what happened last year, right? So the first day of training camp. So like, this is what I think. I wrote this in the summer, like, I wrote a whole column. This makes sense. I don't know why they don't do this based on what they did in free agency, which was nothing as far as adding a center. Like they looked at it as too expensive. Didn't add anyone. You go back to last year: first day of training camp, the biggest story of the day was 'They're moving William Nylander to center.' Sheldon Keefe comes out and explains this was Brad Treliving's idea. He wants to see William Nylander at center. Okay. I'm like 'Cool. Let's see this.' They give it a week. Like, he doesn't even play a regular season game at center, So, like, you just put some of these pieces together and you're thinking, 'Okay, we know the general manager wants to see this, thinks there's something there. The previous head coach doesn't.' Did not believe in it, clearly. He moved Fraser Minten to that spot when he had never played in the NHL before, ahead of Nylander."

Thereafter, Siegel re-emphasized that the Maple Leafs have failed to add any heavy-hitting centers in the offseason they could have, leaving no logical reason they should not give William Nylander a try at center. This would leave the top three centers at Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and John Tavares, who all have proven scoring abilities. Otherwise, this would leave Toronto with the same two alternatives at 3C: Max Domi and David Kampf. If the 28-year-old forward can prove himself in the center role, it leaves the franchise in a much better place depth-wise for the next handful of years.

"So you look, they didn't add Elias Lindholm. They didn't add any other centers they wanted to. They decided they couldn't afford, like, Chandler Stevenson, whoever went for big money. So you look at their puzzle pieces, and it's like, well, what are they going to do? Why not give Nylander another look at center position and try to go with Matthews, Nylander, and Tavares as their three centers? I just think it makes sense, and it's something I've been working out in my head, and I have a hunch that I'm going to be right because I don't see a better- like, what is a better option? Tell me what the better option is. Do you want to go back to having David Kampf as the third center? Do you want to have Max Domi as your third center? What do you want to do? And I think it gives them an opportunity to build some depth through three lines. I think it's the best play long-term, honestly, to see if this can work. Because, suddenly, like, if you make Nylander a center and it works, now you've got your top two centers for the next five years. You know you have Auston Matthews signed for the next four, I guess. So the next four years, and suddenly you're a better setup at center than you would be if you just kept Nylander on the wing."

Despite Siegel's suspicions that William Nylander will take over the second-line center, the Maple Leafs still have him listed in the right wing on their roster. Toronto's latest lineup projection from Sportsnet also has him maintaining his role from last season, with John Tavares taking second-line center, Max Domi as 3C, and Kampf in the bottom line.

Yet, should Craig Berube like what he sees in training camp, William Nylander may still have a chance playing 2C, and could give the team their most optimal formation. Hopefully, whatever choice they make, it will give the Toronto Maple Leafs their greatest chance to launch them further into the Stanley Cup playoffs than they have gone in quite a long time.

UPDATE:

Craig Berube has confirmed William Nylander will start at centre with Max Domi as his winger.

POLL
Will the Toronto Maple Leafs keep William Nylander in the center position this season?
Yes, the whole season	64	29.4 %
Yes, part of the season	113	51.8 %
No, not at all	41	18.8 %
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