Leafs coach Craig Berube confirms Nylander's demotion, explains why it happened
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton Imagn Images
On a four-game pointless streak, William Nylander found himself demoted to the third line at practice on Wednesday, with Craig Berube later revealing the reason why.
A suspension to Bobby McMann and head coach Craig Berube's lack of trust in new Leafs forward Matias Maccelli forced the Leafs bench boss to shuffle his forward group at Wednesday's practice, reconfiguring his second line.
Robertson in, Nylander moves to McMann's spot
Without McMann, Nick Robertson will draw back in and will take Nylander's spot alongside John Tavares and Easton Cowan on the second line. In a coinciding move, Nylander will shift to the wing of the third line with Dakota Joshua and Nicolas Roy.
The demotion to Nylander came as a surprise to the media in attendance on Wednesday and led to questions after a lengthy practice.
Berube explains Nylander demotion
It wasn't just that Nylander is in the midst of a four-game pointless streak that led to Berube changing his second and third lines. As the second-year head coach of the Leafs explained, it was due to the entire line struggling.
"The Cowan-Tavares-Nylander line has kind of fallen off for me and dried up a little bit. I made a switch there, just to give them a different look."
As for Nylander's pointless streak? Berube noted that the Swedish native will break out of it, if he puts in the work.
"If I had to look at one thing, I would say that he has to get more involved and engaged more in the game. He has to work his way through it. That is what I talked to him about today: work your way through it. All players go through it at some point, but if he just works his way through it, he will get out of it quicker."
Heading into Thursday's matchup against the San Jose Sharks, the Leafs will hope a shuffled forward group will lead to more production without sacrificing their improved defensive play of late.
Previously on Toronto Hockey Daily
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 11 | 578 ANSWERS Leafs coach Craig Berube confirms Nylander's demotion, explains why it happened Will Nylander snap his pointless streak on Thursday? | ||
| Yes | 325 | 56.2 % |
| No | 189 | 32.7 % |
| Hopefully | 64 | 11.1 % |
| List of polls | ||