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, missed Game 2, a 3-2 win by the Maple Leafs to even the series, and was absent again in Game 3, a 4-2 victory for the B's.
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 still remains unclear, however, Sportnet's Elliotte Friedman provided a bit if insight on Thursday.
The Leafs winger is reportedly dealing with a migraine, according to Friedman. It apparently is "so severe that team doctors tested to see if he suffered a concussion."
"One of the reasons for the secrecy around his situation is that an actual diagnosis has been hard to come by, whether it is a migraine, a concussion or something else that could affect that area," Friedman said.
Nylander spoke to the media for the first time on Friday after participating in the team's practice, where he took regular shifts on the third line and top power play unit. He did not divulge details about the injury, and said he "didn't know" if he is playing in Game 4.
"Look, that's just personal so I'm not going to get into that," Nylander said when asked about his injury.
Leafs F William Nylander spoke with the media about missing the first three games of the series and how he’s feeling now. pic.twitter.com/sn1MHxVQis
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 26, 2024
Nylander played in Toronto's final regular season game on April 17 without issue, but he was not seen at practice ahead of the start of the playoffs. Before 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?
Keefe said that the team will make a call about Nylander's availability for Game 4 on Saturday before the game in Toronto. Based on the skate on Friday, all signs point to the winger returning for that contest.
Keefe said the Leafs will make a call on Nylander tomorrow (all signs point to yes). Daddy Lyubushkin is already en route back to Toronto from California and will be available to play. Pencil in Brodie for his series debut. Matthews getting his energy back after illness.
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) April 26, 2024
There was initial optimism earlier in the week that Nylander would return to the lineup for Game 3, but that door was shut ahead of the contest, which resulted in a 4-2 win for Boston.
It's a better trend than the lead-ups of the first three games, where Nylander partially participated in skates, and was staying out with the healthy scratches.
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 | Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 2 | 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 %
