Craig Berube Calls Out William Nylander As He Continues to Struggle
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube made some insightful comments regarding William Nylander as the star forward continues to struggle scoring goals.
William Nylander's last goal came on December 21st when he scored twice against the New York Islanders in a 6-3 loss.
Since then he has faltered offensively, despite the team doing well overall.
Over his last seven games, Nylander has just three assists. In his last four, he has zero points.
He is also averaging just 2 shots on goal over the last seven games, while he typically registers three or more on most nights.
Head coach Craig Berube said that he believes Nylander just isn't quite working hard enough to get his chances.
In a lengthy statement about his game, he revealed that he believes Nylander is at his best when he is tenacious on the puck, working hard for every battle and every opportunity.
Right now, he just does not see that in his game.
That's the biggest thing for me is just get him back to work a little bit more. And being more tenacious on pucks and puck battles and things like that.
When he was scoring a lot, his puck battles were extremely high, and he was playing with more pace. He's just kind of not playing with the same pace right now."
It certainly feels like Nylander just hasn't quite been himself lately.
Perhaps there could be a nagging injury that is bothering him just enough to effect his performance, but there has been no indication of that from the team or Nylander himself.
His drop in shooting, lack of production, and defensive lapses in recent games all point to something being wrong though.
Hopefully, it is just a run-of-the-mill mid-season slump that he will pull out of in the coming days.
He will get a chance to break out tonight as the Leafs take on the Carolina Hurricanes on the road.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Jordan Staal | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Sidney Crosby | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Ryan McLeod | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Bryan Rust | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jordan Martinook | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Connor McDavid | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jack Quinn | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Robert Thomas | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Eeli Tolvanen | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Pavel Buchnevich | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Luca Del Bel Belluz | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Adam Fox | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brandon Hagel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack Hughes | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jordan Kyrou | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Denton Mateychuk | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brock Nelson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Drew O'Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Golden Knights | 40 | 28 | 9 | 3 | 59 | |
Capitals | 41 | 27 | 10 | 4 | 58 | |
Jets | 42 | 28 | 12 | 2 | 58 | |
Wild | 41 | 26 | 11 | 4 | 56 | |
Maple Leafs | 42 | 27 | 13 | 2 | 56 | |
Oilers | 40 | 25 | 12 | 3 | 53 | |
Devils | 43 | 25 | 15 | 3 | 53 | |
Panthers | 42 | 25 | 15 | 2 | 52 | |
Kings | 38 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 51 | |
Stars | 39 | 25 | 13 | 1 | 51 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||