With the Leafs having more or less wrapped up a playoff spot, there are a few key things that I’m looking at down the stretch run. Chief among them is the success of William Nylander at centre, in the absence of Auston Matthews. The Leafs have little to no centre depth beyond Matthews and Nazem Kadri after this season, and if Nylander is able to succeed there, it gives them a truly formidable trio of centres in the long term.
So with that in mind, I thought it would be valuable to go game by game and analyze how Nylander has done there since Matthews’ recent injury.