“Things have been piling up” – Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe dissatisfied with William Nylander


“Things have been piling up” – Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe dissatisfied with William Nylander

Sheldon Keefe and William Nylander

Toronto Maple Leafs right winger William Nylander was quick to pinpoint where things went for his side in the game against Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. 

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The 25-year-old Swede ice hockey player, who didn’t set foot on the ice for the final 2 min 55 sec of the third period, called out the “lack of effort” from the Maple Leafs.

Earlier, his team was caving in the lower-ranked Canadiens at the Bell Centre when skipper Auston Matthews had scored 36 seconds in. But the deadline-depleted and injury-riddled Habs had activated from the second period, went on to blow past a lackadaisical Nylander untouched, drove the crease and converted a pretty cross-ice feed.

“I made a mistake on the backcheck. Didn’t back check all the way,” Nylander owned, following Saturday’s 2-4 loss. “That’s a big factor. I gotta be there to stop the momentum.”

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“William knows what makes him great and what he needs to get back to”

William Nylander
William Nylander

Reacting to Nylander’s performance against Toronto, coach Sheldon Keefe expressed his sheer dissatisfaction.

It’s tough,” Keefe said of Nylander’s missed assignment. “I mean, defensively, I don’t know if we can play much better than that. Just how we controlled play, how we controlled the neutral zone — not a lot happening. That’s a tough one to give up. 

“But, to me, that was the third or fourth play like that for Will. And that’s why it was time [to split Nylander and Tavares]. Things have been piling up for that line for a while. So, it was overdue.”

On being asked, is Brampton native Keefe satisfied with Nylander’s play of late?

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No. Not close,” the coach immediately replied.

“I don’t need to pile on Will here,” he concluded. “He knows what makes him great, and he knows what he needs to get back to.”

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