What does a successful 2025-26 season look like for William Nylander?

William Nylander is a textbook zero to hero story in the Toronto market, although you can easily make the argument that he never should have been a zero in the first place. He held out of the first two months of the 2018-19 season before settling on a six-year contract extension worth $6.9 million annually. He struggled after returning in December, finishing the season with 27 points in 54 games and a good portion of the media and the fanbase against him. After that, he never looked back.

Since that 2018-19 season, Nylander has continued to improve more and more year after year, but in recent years, his laid back personality and nonchalant attitude have proven to have as much value as his on-ice abilities. He took some heat from critics after the Maple Leafs lost three games in a row back in January of this past season, saying ‘It’s only three games, what’s the big deal?’ after the Maple Leafs’ third loss, a span in which Nylander only had one goal and no assists.

Weeks later, when the Maple Leafs had found a groove and won three games in a row, Nylander was asked what he took away from those wins.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said with a sly smile. “It’s three games.”

Nylander finished the season with a new career high in goals, 45, and 84 points in 82 games. In terms of his total points, it was a step down from his 96-point campaign in 2023-24, but he put the team on his back and led the Maple Leafs in playoff scoring with 15 points in 13 games.

While the Maple Leafs came short of the ultimate prize, a familiar tale over the past decade (hell, almost six of them), it wasn’t to Nylander’s fault. He’s routinely proven that he isn’t fazed by the bright lights that come with playing in the Toronto market and has consistently been one of if not their most dependable players when the stakes are highest.

“Toronto is the first place where I really felt home,” Nylander told Sharp Magazine following the Maple Leafs’ first-round exit in 2023-24. “These fans, they’re crazy. They’re the most passionate fans in the world. I know how much those losses hurt, especially to Boston. But I hope they know it kills me, too. F*ck, man. It really does.”

Between the trio of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and Nylander, you could easily make the argument that Nylander has embodied what it means to be a Maple Leaf the most of the three. Since that initial holdout in 2018-19, he’s continued to grow each year and seems to be even more relaxed than the year prior. He signed his eight-year contract extension to keep him in Toronto until he’s 37 years old, at least, and has stressed over and over that he wants to win a cup and to do it in Toronto, specifically.

“It’s the only place to do it.”

The goal: Rise to the occasion with Marner’s departure, crack 100-point mark

With Mitch Marner being dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights and subsequently signing an eight-year extension there, Nylander all of a sudden has a wide open opportunity to truly cement himself as a superstar in Toronto. He’s scored at least 40 goals in each of his past three seasons, and with Marner out of the fold, Nylander will have that much more ice time and that much more opportunity to ascend even more than he has already.

Not that there’s much else to achieve, but he’s yet to hit the 100-point mark, and if he rides shotgun with Matthews like Marner did for all those years, the sky is the limit for what heights he could climb to. Pair that with an older, more confident Matthew Knies on the left side, wreaking havoc in front of the net, and hitting the 50-goal, 100-point mark seems extremely doable.

The expectation: Reach 40 goals/80 points, continue postseason dominance

This would be a pretty standard year for Nylander, who was still one of the most dominant players on the team despite a 12-point drop off from the previous season. He’s already proven to head coach Craig Berube that he’s somebody who wants to be relied on in situations that require some action, and Berube has learned himself that Nylander thrives when he’s being left alone to do his job.

If Nylander continues his growth and maintains that nonchalant attitude that’s carried him so far already (and there’s no reason to believe he won’t), it’s extremely safe to assume that, at minimum, he’ll keep bringing the consistency and giving the Maple Leafs somebody they can depend on. His energy in the postseason and performance when the temperature is the hottest has been his bread and butter for the past half-decade, and the 2025-26 season should be business as usual for the Swedish star.