It’s probably what the Leafs really wanted from the beginning of the season, with a good opportunity to keep their prized new prospect playing in Toronto under the tutelage of their development staff.
That the SHL season is going so poorly for MoDo, including the recent dismissal of their head coach, seems to have given them a second chance to get William Nylander over to Toronto this season. Or maybe it was the plan all along.
Regardless, if the Leafs feel it’s possible Nylander could take the leap into the NHL next Fall, this seems like an important first step; getting him over for a good chunk of development time in North America at the AHL level.
From Anthony Petrielli in September:
[quote_box_center]The Maple Leafs were faced with a unique opportunity to keep their top prospect in Toronto playing in the AHL, yet they elected to send him back to Sweden instead.
There is no exact science to developing prospects and every individual person is, of course, unique. That said, odds are that some AHL time will occur, even if only for a handful of games before graduating to the NHL, provided Nylander becomes the player they hope he can be.
Nylander clearly had the skill to keep up with NHLers during preseason. He only scored one goal, but he just missed multiple chances including a breakaway, and off the rush his skating helped him separate from back-checkers and create space. Nylander is small, and he had issues playing between the dots and in the dirty areas — particularly on the wall in breakout sequences — but these elements can be better worked on in North America compared to Europe.[/quote_box_center]
As for cap implications, the nine-game entry-level contract rule applies at any point in the season (burns a year of the ELC if he plays more than nine NHL games), but by coming over at game 43, should the Leafs keep him up for any length of time this season, it won’t bring him closer to arbitration and UFA eligibility.
And that’s what most Leafs fans are going to be curious about now: Will we see Nylander get an NHL taste and make his regular season Maple Leaf debut?
Either way, getting him adjusting to North America hockey, working with the Leafs‘ strength and conditioning and development staff, while bringing his offensive talents to a Marlies team that could use him is good news all around.
Ricoh might get a slight attendance injection
— Gus Katsaros🏒 (@KatsHockey) January 12, 2015
