If you’ve spent any time watching William Nylander playing this season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, it’d be pretty easy to make the case that he’s the best he’s ever looked.
While he’s 19 points of his career-high 98 points achieved last season with just eight games left for Toronto, one could argue that this has been Nylander’s most dynamic offensive year yet.
With a career-high 42 goals, which sit him second in the entire NHL behind Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, Nylander has been a driving force behind Toronto’s offence all season long.
And it turns out that he actually quietly set a Leafs record last week, despite not much fanfare circling on it.
With Nylander’s 42nd of the season scored in a 6-5 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks, he actually one-upped countryman Mats Sundin for the best single-season goal-scoring mark in Leafs history by a European player. Sundin topped out at 41 in the 1996-97 seasons, 2001-02 season topping a previous mark of 32 set by Czech winger Miroslav Frycer in 1986.
(For the history buffs: Russian-born forward Nikolai Borschevsky had 34 goals in 1993-94 in his rookie NHL season, but he’s actually from the part of the country claimed by Asia.)
Given that Sundin is one of the most beloved players in franchise history — and has both a retired jersey as well as a statue outside of Scotiabank Arena in Legends’ Row — it’s pretty good company to find Nylander in.
Though Nylander was actually born in Calgary while his father Michael was in the midst of his NHL career with the Flames, he’s always represented Sweden internationally, including during February’s 4 Nations Face-Off.
And while European players are now an obvious staple of every NHL team, it wasn’t all that long ago when Borje Salming became the first one in team history, coming over to the franchise in 1973. Nylander is one of four current Swedes on Toronto’s roster, along with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Pontus Holmberg, and Calle Jarnkrok, while Czech winger David Kampf is the other European player on the team.
American-born Auston Matthews, of course, holds the Leafs’ top two overall spots when it comes to goal-scoring, putting up 60 and 69 goals in 2012-22 and 2023-24, respectively.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
