HOW LONG IS WILLIAM NYLANDER OUT? INJURY TIMELINE, RETURN DATE, LATEST UPDATES ON LEAFS STAR'S MYSTERIOUS AILMENT
For the entirety of the regular season, there was only one Maple Leafs player who remained healthy and played in all 82 games — William Nylander.
But now that the calendar has turned to the postseason, a mysterious ailment is plaguing the Toronto winger.
Nylander was a surprise scratch to start the Leafs' first-round series against the Bruins. He appeared to be perfectly healthy when the final buzzer rang on Toronto's regular-season finale, but just three days later, he was not in the lineup for Saturday's Game 1 contest, a 5-1 win on home ice for Boston and missed Game 2, a 3-2 win by the Maple Leafs to even the series.
In the NHL, coaching staffs are fickle enough when it comes to injured players, but it takes on an entirely different form come playoff time. While hockey players are known for powering through even the toughest of ailments, sometimes one simply cannot go, and that seems to be the case with Nylander.
What exactly is the injury bugging the Maple Leafs star? The Sporting News has the latest updates and status for Nylander.
MORE: Bruins vs. Maple Leafs series schedule, channels, results
What is William Nylander's injury?
The nature of Nylander's injury remains unclear.
Nylander played in Toronto's final regular season game on April 17 without issue, but he was not seen at practice Friday. Ahead of Game 1 against the Bruins, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said that he was instructed by general manager Brad Treliving not to give out any updates on injuries during the postseason.
"[Treliving] has made it pretty clear to me that there will not be daily injury updates or anything like that," Keefe said ahead of Game 1.
With no updates coming from Nylander or the Toronto coaching staff, fans are left to speculate what the exact injury is.
The Athletic's Chris Johnston made a couple of observations when watching Nylander skate ahead of Monday night's Game 2 in Boston. Here were his notes on how the Maple Leafs winger appeared:
"Nylander looked to be laboring, especially early in the session, and misfired entirely on a couple of shot attempts while the ice sheet was still freshly resurfaced," Johnston wrote Sunday. "He wasn’t moving with his normal fluidity and frequently hunched over while regrouping along the boards between drills. He had Giordano feed him passes to practice one-timers and went through a series of puck-touch drills under the supervision of assistant coaches Manny Malhotra and Dean Chynoweth."
NHL PLAYOFFS: FULL BRACKET | SCHEDULE | PREDICTIONS
How long is William Nylander out?
Nylander remains out for Game 3 of the Leafs-Bruins series, per Mark Masters of TSN. The series is tied 1-1 after two games in Boston.
There was initial optimism earlier on Wednesday that Nylander would return to the lineup, but that door has been shut with the most recent report.
Nylander participated in Toronto's morning skate where he skated on the third line during rushes. However, he was also seen staying on the ice later to get extra work in with the other projected scratches.
It follows a similar pattern to the lead-up of Game 2, where Nylander participated in morning skate, but stayed out with the black aces, eventually missing the contest.
Bruins vs. Maple Leafs schedule, scores, results
Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 are scheduled to be played at TD Garden in Boston. The series will shift to Scotiabank Arena in Toronto for Games 3, 4 and 6.
Here is the full schedule for the first-round series:
| Date | Game | Time (ET)/Result | TV/Live stream |
| April 20 | Game 1 | Bruins 5, Maple Leafs 1 | TBS, Sling |
| April 22 | Game 2 | Maple Leafs 3, Bruins 2 | ESPN, Fubo |
| April 24 | Game 3 | 7 p.m. | ESPN, Fubo |
| April 27 | Game 4 | 8 p.m. | TBS, Sling |
| April 30 | Game 5* | TBD | TBD |
| May 2 | Game 6* | TBD | TBD |
| May 4 | Game 7* | TBD | TBD |
*If necessary
William Nylander stats 2023-24
- 40 goals
- 58 assists
- 98 points
- 11 power-play goals
- 24 power-play assists
- 35 power-play points
- 316 shots on goal
- 12.7 shooting %