The reason for William Nylander’s playoff absences has been revealed, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman sharing that the star winger has been facing severe migraines. Friedman adds that the exact reason for the migraines hasn’t been narrowed down, explaining why the club has stayed quiet about Nylander’s absences. Migraines have been an issue throughout his career, with Nylander even swapping to a tinted visor at the start of the 2022-23 season to try and remedy the issues.
Nylander’s last appearance was in the club’s regular-season finale – a 4-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He’s so far missed all three games of Round One, though Friedman shares that there’s hope he could be ready for Game Four. The Maple Leafs will certainly hope that’s the case, as Nylander represents one of their most dangerous postseason assets. He has 17 goals and 40 points across 50 career playoff appearances, and most recently posted 10 points in 11 games in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
And there’s reason to think Nylander could enter these playoffs with even more bite. The 27-year-old scored a career-high 98 points in 82 games this season while chasing his second-consecutive 40-goal season. He showed just how flexible he could be, too, stepping into a variety of roles and lines. The Maple Leafs are averaging just 2.0 goals per game in Round One, after posting a 3.70 average through the regular season.
Other notes out of Toronto:
- Winger Bobby McMann is expected to miss the upcoming Game Four, though he hasn’t been ruled out for the series, per TSN’s Darren Dreger (Twitter link). McMann missed Toronto’s has missed the team’s last five games, going back to their second-to-last regular season game, with a lower-body injury. He’ll offer valuable depth whenever he’s able to rejoin the lineup, though he’ll need to get over a scoring drought – having posted just one point in his last eight appearances. McMann, who posted 15 goals and 24 points this season, has yet to play in the first Stanley Cup Playoff game of his career.
- Toronto could be poised to sign forward prospect Nikita Grebyonkin to his entry-level deal – and may even slot into the Stanley Cup Playoffs – per Alexey Shevchenko of Russian media site Sport Express. Grebyonkin is coming off a Gagarin Cup win with the KHL’s Mettalurg Magnitogorsk. He served a pivotal role in the team’s championship run, ranking second on the team in regular-season scoring with 41 points in 67 games and adding six points in 23 playoff games. Icing Grebyonkin in the playoffs would burn the first year of his assumed three-year entry-level deal, though that may not be too costly for the 21-year-old winger. Toronto originally drafted Grebyonkin in the fifth round of the 2022 NHL Draft.