William Nylander

[herman]

Assuming that Bozak is gone, and you have room for Nylander at center, does Kadri then get his minutes cut if Nylander becomes the 2nd center behind Matthews?

I would assume that Kadri would still be going head-to-head against the oppositions top line, so probably not.  My guess is Matthews would get Bozak's minutes, and Nylander would then get Matthews' minutes.

Matthews' line started pulling away from the pack towards the end of the season (~19 min avg) while Kadri was 18 and Bozak was 16-17*. It was a pretty even schmear for the top 9 otherwise. Whichever line was going best on any given night was getting the ice time.

I would expect Nylander to take over Bozak's role of sheltered offense if Bozak is moved, as he is least suited for hard match ups, but maybe most capable of destroying lesser opposition with aplomb. How the minutes get distributed there is going to be case by case depending on the opposition's build.

* Just ball parking off boxscores, so just treat them as relative values, rather than absolutes.

 

[Frank E]

Assuming that Bozak is gone, and you have room for Nylander at center, does Kadri then get his minutes cut if Nylander becomes the 2nd center behind Matthews?

As long as they maintain that they want Kadri against the opposition's top centre, Kadri's minutes will be dictated by that.

 

[Redleaf]

I wouldn't assume Bozak or JVR will be gone next season. In fact, unless a deal for a defenseman comes along that is too good to resist, I'd bet they are both back.

 

[herman]

Here's something I was mulling this morning.

I was doing a bit of reading up on Erik Gudbranson after Britishbulldog mentioned him in the Armchair GM thread, and one note that stood out to me was that he was used to cover for Luongo's blocker-side weakness. Gallant also bemoaned this loss following Gudbranson's trade to the Canucks as he lost his primary blocker-side deterrent.

So that got me thinking about tactics to exploit or defend such weaknesses. I don't have numbers (or access to said numbers), but I'm guessing the blocker side is going to be a point of weakness for just about any goalie, simply due to having more equipment to move on that one side*. As nearly every goalie is a left glove, that basically means attacking from the left wing with a right shot targeting that blocker side should be a shooting percentage boost.

Again, I don't have the numbers, but I'm looking at the success of players like Stamkos, Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, and now Laine, as well as PP D-bombs and lesser snipers in Shea Weber, Brent Burns, PK Subban, Lupul, Jeff O'Neill... I think there's a soft-spot here in the way the game is played.

Would we be better served running Nylander on the left wing? Wouldn't it improve Hyman's game too, to be coming in on the forecheck on his strong side?


* Link

Martin Biron, a former NHL and Rangers goaltender with 230 career wins, confirms [low blocker] is the hardest save for a left-handed catching goalie to make because "goalies are less athletic on the stick side."

The article also mentions that a left shot on the left wing has an open look at left blocker too, but if we're talking clap bombs from the circle (i.e. goaltender in motion), that right shot to the low blocker or top corner is where it's at.

 

[ZBBM]

I think you just solved hockey.

 

[herman]

I think you just solved hockey.

Also, when backchecking, running Nylander on LW puts him on his strong side coming back, and ready to wind up for a rush up the middle (cross over with Matthews).

More fun: If he had two more seasons to work on it, I'm pretty confident Nylander could be the 1RHD we've been dreaming of too. His skating, puck skills, and shot are upper tier, and his puck retrieval is already aces.

https://twitter.com/hockey_ref/status/857420307170304000
www.twitter.com/hockey_ref/status/857420307170304000

Basically if the whole team was
Top line: Nylander - Matthews - Nylander
Second line: Nylander - Matthews - Marner
Sheltered scoring: Matthews - Nylander - Marner
Checking: Marner - Matthews - Marner

I'd be pretty happy

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Nylander's going to the World Championships:

https://theleafsnation.com/2017/05/01/william-nylander-to-represent-sweden-in-world-championships/

Team Sweden's roster doesn't look particularly impressive, at least on forward. They've got Hedman, Stralman, OEL, and Klingberg on D but Nylander might very well be their best forward. So it'll be interesting to see how much they rely on him, and whether they use him at centre or wing.

 

[herman]

Nylander's going to the World Championships:

https://theleafsnation.com/2017/05/01/william-nylander-to-represent-sweden-in-world-championships/

Team Sweden's roster doesn't look particularly impressive, at least on forward. They've got Hedman, Stralman, OEL, and Klingberg on D but Nylander might very well be their best forward. So it'll be interesting to see how much they rely on him, and whether they use him at centre or wing.

With the Sedins being on the tail end of their career, Backstrom and Rackell still in the playoffs (for how much longer?), I wouldn't be surprised to see him centering their first line.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

With the Sedins being on the tail end of their career, Backstrom and Rackell still in the playoffs (for how much longer?), I wouldn't be surprised to see him centering their first line.

Sedin(s) and Zetterberg both declined too, so Backstrom would be the only centre I think that could bump Nylander from the 1C spot. But even if that happens or if Team Sweden feels like playing him at centre when he's been on the wing all season long doesn't make sense then he still will likely end up being their 1RW.

 

[ZBBM]

Nylander's going to the World Championships:

https://theleafsnation.com/2017/05/01/william-nylander-to-represent-sweden-in-world-championships/

Team Sweden's roster doesn't look particularly impressive, at least on forward. They've got Hedman, Stralman, OEL, and Klingberg on D but Nylander might very well be their best forward. So it'll be interesting to see how much they rely on him, and whether they use him at centre or wing.

Maybe but I'd give my right ball for any of those D to be on the Leafs.

Well OK perhaps only my left ball for either Stralman or Klingberg.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Maybe but I'd give my right ball for any of those D to be on the Leafs.

Well OK perhaps only my left ball for either Stralman or Klingberg.

Yeah, maybe I didn't phrase that properly. They have the best defence in the tournament, and it's not even close.

 

[Kin]

Yeah, maybe I didn't phrase that properly. They have the best defence in the tournament, and it's not even close.

I was always surprised their defence didn't give Canada more trouble in Sochi(even with their weird decisions re: OEL).

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I was always surprised their defence didn't give Canada more trouble in Sochi(even with their weird decisions re: OEL).

At Sochi? It wasn't just their weird OEL decision though, they also left Hedman and Stralman off their roster and took Tallinder, Oduya, and Ericsson for some reason. It was their World Cup defence that was more stacked since they took both those guys that time around.

But yeah, Sweden is definitely the only nation that has the personnel to match Canada on the blue line.

 

[herman]

The top six for Sweden at the World Championship is tentatively:
Landeskog - Lindholm - Rask
Nylander - Karlsson - Soderberg

That's not good.

 

[Highlander]

Willie scored a beauty yesterday.

 

[herman]

Willie scored a beauty yesterday.

He had a good game.

As a continuation of my ruminations on playing Nylander on the LW, Willy also scored a beauty last year:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2wm1QZPxCc[/youtube]

Obviously, this is a PP situation (did not know he had such a bomb to drop), but it exhibits the deadliness of a Royal Road pass to a shooting side slapper at the blocker circle.

If Nylander were to play the LW, we'd lose out on the catch and release plays that both Nylander and Matthews excel at, along with the transition through the NZ with sticks forward. Nothing prevents Nylander from circling to the left wing on the cycle though.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/aj_ranger/status/863840539271188480
www.twitter.com/aj_ranger/status/863840539271188480

Even when he isn't told to play centre, it happens anyway.

He had two against the Danes.

 

[sickbeast]

Wow that's a ridiculous goal. 

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/cmoresport/status/864428282149617669
www.twitter.com/cmoresport/status/864428282149617669

Another Backstrom to Nylander goal. This one is pretty much all Willy.

 

[rdowdall]

I don't normally do this, and I know that I am asking alot, but if you are up there Superman, please don't let the Leafs trade Matthews, Marner, or Nylander.