The Toronto Maple Leafs will return their highest-scoring player tonight. According to a team announcement, the Maple Leafs have activated William Nylander from the team’s injured reserve.
The news aligns with an earlier report from David Alter of The Hockey News stating that Nylander will return to the lineup, and defenseman Jake McCabe is a game-time decision. Nylander has missed two weeks with a lower-body injury.
Still, despite missing their highest-scoring player for 14 days, the Maple Leafs haven’t noticed. Toronto is 4-0-2 without Nylander, climbing to 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings and two points back of the final wild-card spot.
Regardless, Toronto will warmly welcome Nylander and his offensive prowess back into the lineup. The 29-year-old winger is again on pace to register more than 80 points this season, scoring 14 goals and 41 points in 33 games while averaging 19:10 of ice time per game.
However, there are some newfound concerns with Nylander on the defensive side of the puck this season. Although he has 39 more games to correct the issue (if he remains healthy), Nylander’s CorsiFor% at even strength (47.0%) and on-ice SV% at even strength (86.0%) have each fallen to a career low. Despite averaging more than a point per game, even his expected +/- has fallen into the negatives for the first time since his rookie season in 2015-16.
Meanwhile, it would be equally beneficial for the Maple Leafs to get McCabe back into the lineup for different reasons. The 32-year-old blue liner has arguably been the best defenseman for Toronto this season, scoring three goals and 16 points in 41 games with a +26 rating. Unlike Nylander, most of McCabe’s value this season has come from the defensive side of the puck, averaging a 91.7% oiSV% at even strength.