Mitch Marner and William Nylander will face off today in a battle of the Toronto Maple Leaf super-rookies.
At different times, both Toronto Maple Leafs players have shared the spotlight in the 2017 IIHF World Championships, receiving gushing praise from analysts, coaches and teammates alike. Anyone that watched the Leafs closely this year will not be surprised to hear any of it, but it’s a chance for fans of other fan bases to see both players up-close for extended periods of time.
“Backstrom and Nylander have been really huge for us,” said Viktor Rask. “They have been scoring big goals for us since being put together. Today was no different. It is great to watch them play out there, especially Backstrom when he is on the power play.”
Nylander is putting on a performance for the ages at the World Championships. He’s tied with Nikita Kucherov for first in tournament goals with seven and is tied for third with Nathan MacKinnon in tournament scoring with 14 points. In only nine games, the goals and assists he’s racking up look like a season’s worth of highlights and the addition of Nicklas Backstrom to his line has further boosted his output by creating a fantastic lefty-righty duo. That will sound familiar to Maple Leaf fans who watched Auston Matthews and Nylander perfect passing play after passing play this past season, with the difference being that the roles are reversed — Backstrom is the playmaker while Nylander is collecting the final touch on most passing plays as the shooter.
https://twitter.com/aj_ranger/status/866025723450056705
William Nylander, man. #IIHFWorlds #Leafs pic.twitter.com/asxPOQCwje
— Alex Nunn (@aj_ranger) May 14, 2017
Marner is in a similar boat to Nylander; he’s been a revelation on a stacked Team Canada, producing highlight reel moment after highlight reel moment on a line with Travis Konecny and Brayden Point.
The three young, undersized forwards make up the fourth line but one designed as more of a sheltered scoring line and an ace up the sleeve for head coach, Jon Cooper, to deploy for a fast-paced offensive zone shift with quick passing and multiple handoffs. The trio has found chemistry together using a tried-and-tested model for line construction: Konecny is a fast and fearless forechecker/puck retriever with a great shot, Point is a skilled playmaking center, and Marner acts as a winger / center hybrid — whatever the situation requires.
Marner is also playing on the right half-wall on the first powerplay unit as the puck distributor.
“We’ve grown pretty close since the tournament started,” Nathan MacKinnon said. “I didn’t know what to expect. He kind of looks like a little nerdy kid, but he’s not at all. He’s got a lot of swg and confidence. He’s unbelievable. He’s going to be one of the best passers in the game for a long time. I didn’t know how good he was until playing with him here. He’s going to be a great, great playmaker for a long time. It’s a treat. I wish I could take him to Denver with me. I think carry-on would work.”
Mitch Marner: good at hockey
1-0 Canada. pic.twitter.com/FSAqthp4nT— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) May 16, 2017
Both Leafs youngsters would be in the running for tournament MVP with big performances today. Either way, it’s been an incredible year of development already with the Leafs making the playoffs ahead of schedule, and this Final will serve as more invaluable big-game experience for both players.
“I think it’s fantastic for him and Nylander to be over here. They’re earning confidence. When you get on a stage that is different than you’re used to and then you show how good you are — I thought Willy was dominant the other night against the Germans — it makes you feel good. You’re sitting in the locker room and you’re with different leaders and they’re saying things you haven’t heard and you’re learning from them. You’re learning from the things you don’t like and you’re learning from the things you do like. To me, that confidence they’re earning is just going to benefit our team.”
– Mike Babcock
Team Sweden Lineup
Forwards
Elias Lindholm – Victor Rask – Gabriel Landeskog (A)
Oscar Lindberg- Nicklas Backstrom – William Nylander
Dennis Everberg – Joakim Nordstrom- William Karlsson
Marcus Kruger – Joel Lundqvist (C) – Joel Ek Eriksson
Extra: Carl Soderberg
Defence
Victor Hedman (A) – Anton Stralman
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Jonas Brodin
Alexander Edler – John Kingberg
Extra: Philip Holm
Starting Goaltender: Henrik Lundqvist
Team Canada Lineup
Forwards
Jeff Skinner – Nate MacKinnon – Mark Scheifele
Ryan O’Reilly (A) – Claude Giroux (C) – Wayne Simmons
Matt Duchene (A) – Sean Couturier – Alex Killorn
Travis Konecny – Brayden Point – Mitch Marner
Extra: Brayden Schenn
Defence
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Colton Parayko
Calvin de Hann – Jason Demers
Josh Morrissey – Mike Matheson
Extra: Chris Lee
Starting Goaltender: Calvin Pickard
