Leafs lineup news: William Nylander doubtful vs. Jets with lower-body injury

Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander was held out of Friday’s practice. Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube revealed that Nylander is doubtful for Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets, with no indication if it’s a short-term or long-term issue for the forward, via Sportsnet’s Anna Dua.

Nylander suffered a lower-body injury during the first period of Thursday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Toronto’s star forward registered a goal and an assist before leaving the contest. After the game, Berube revealed that Nylander aggravated an existing lower-body injury.

“Right now I can’t answer that,” Berube said via The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel when asked if Nylander’s absence will be short or long term. “With the last one, I thought it would be quicker and then obviously it wasn’t. We’ll just see how he feels here going forward.”

Nylander previously missed six games due to the injury, and returned to the lineup on January 10 against the Vancouver Canucks.

The 29-year-old leads the Maple Leafs with 48 points (17 goals, 31 assists) in 37 games, the 25th-best total in the NHL prior to Friday’s games.

Friday’s practice may very well have been optional for the team’s best players. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, John Tavares, Matthew Knies and Joseph Woll all did not participate, via Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star. Ekman-Larsson briefly left Thursday’s game, but returned to the contest during the second period.

Simon Benoit was also held out of practice, and was previously listed as day-to-day after sustaining an injury during Thursday’s morning skate.

It appears likely that Dennis Hildeby will start Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets, especially with Woll getting some rest Friday. Hildeby has posted a 4-6-4 record with a .911 save percentage in 17 appearances this season.

Anthony Stolarz continued to skate with the team, and took on greater reps with Woll absent. There is no timeline for Stolarz’s return to action, and he’s been out of the lineup since November 11 due to an upper-body injury.

Toronto will conclude its four-game road trip on Saturday, before returning home to host the Minnesota Wild on Monday. After surrendered a 5-3 lead against the Golden Knights, Berube was critical of his team’s effort down the stretch.

“It’s frustrating to lose this game tonight,” Berube said. “We got off to a great start and I thought we played really well tonight for the most part of the game. We just gotta be smarter in certain situations, that’s what it boils down to tonight. I think we played a solid game tonight, but we made some mistakes that we don’t need to make in the third period.”