The Toronto Maple Leafs will have to deal with yet another injury moving forward. Star winger William Nylander will miss Sunday night’s game and sit out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury head coach Craig Berube told David Alter of The Hockey News. Rookie Easton Cowan will step back into the lineup in Nylander’s place. It will be Cowan’s first game in over a week.
Few players will be tougher to lose than Nylander. He leads the Maple Leafs in scoring with 41 points in 33 games this season. That standing stood up through a relatively quiet start to the month of December. Nylander only scored four points, all assists, through the first 10 games of the month. He has more than made up for the lull, though, with five points in his last two games.
Nylander has recorded the third-highest average ice time on Toronto’s offense, behind only Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies. He leaves a massive hole in Toronto’s lineup that will likely require a committee approach to fill. Cowan will be some help, boasting 11 points in 26 games of his rookie season and offering a nice bit of explosive offense. But the first-year pro won’t be able to keep the offense afloat on his own. Toronto will need a surge in impact from players like Matias Maccelli, Max Domi, and Bobby McMann in Nylander’s absence. They could also benefit from a bounce back for star Matthews, who snapped a four-game scoring drought with a three-point night on Saturday. A few more games like that should be enough to keep Toronto in the win column while Nylander works back to full health.