William Nylander Toronto's 2014 First Round draft pick has
been assigned to the Toronto Marlies. Nylander had been playing in his home
country of Sweden with Team Modo in the Elite League. Nylander was almost a
point per game player on the last place Modo and had a reasonably good
performance in the World Juniors earlier this month. It appears that the
Toronto Maple Leafs were dissatisfied with the situation in Sweden and have
made a quick decision to have him brought into the North American hockey system
earlier than expected. This in my opinion is going to be a challenge for
Nylander. There is a huge amount of expectation that comes along with being a
Leafs number one draft pick. The fact that Nylander is a skilled forward with
goal scoring ability is not lost on members of Leaf Nation. Unfortunately I
for-see problems with Nylander being able to develop on a smaller ice rink with
more physical players. The Leafs have put their hopes in Phil Kessel who
appears to be made of glass, unable to take or dish out a hit and only knows
how to play in the offensive zone. Brining a similarly skilled player into the
Leafs organization in mind is a big mistake. This appears to be another
decision made by the Leafs brass that failed to look at the big picture and
take everything into account. They needed scoring and made a rash decision to
bring in a small European player. It makes no sense to me that the Leafs
selected Nylander 8th overall when a player like Nick Ritchie was available and
ultimately went 10th overall to the Anaheim Ducks.
Ritchie
an Ontario native is a goal scoring power forward who plays in the OHL. But for
whatever reason the Leafs passed on this player. It is decisions like this that
have plagued the organization in recent history but, hopefully I am wrong about
this one, and Nylander becomes a superstar leading the lovable loser Leafs to
their first Stanley Cup in nearly half a century.
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