Leafs Star William Nylander Leads Even the Most Elite NHL Talent in One Key Area This Season

With Mitch Marner leaving this past offseason, it felt inevitable that the Maple Leafs would take a step back offensively. Last year's team was one of the stronger defensive groups in the league, so most fans figured that would carry over. It hasn't.

This season has been nothing short of bizarre compared to what the team was able to accomplish last season. The Leafs have struggled in almost every area, momentum swings are constant, and there's been no real sign of stability.

So, naturally, the Leafs desperately needed someone, anyone, to step up and give this roster a real puncher's chance at being competitive. A quarter of the way into the season, it's safe to say William Nylander has done exactly that.

Nylander has been the most consistent forward in the NHL in terms of nightly production, recording points in nearly 90% of Toronto's games.

Consistency was the one criticism that followed Nylander early in his career, but that narrative is rapidly disappearing. He's on pace for a staggering 121-point season, which would shatter his previous career high of 98. If this pace holds, the "needs motivation" debates should be officially dead.

Toronto clearly has several underlying issues, from depth concerns to defensive lapses to unstable special teams. But William Nylander? He's been as close to automatic as the Leafs have had in years.

He's driving play, he's producing at an elite rate, and he's stepped up exactly when this team needed someone to grab the wheel. With everything going wrong around him, Nylander has been the one thing going absolutely right.

The Stockholm star has recently declared publicly that he's not worried about the early season struggles, and that this amount of adversity is going to help this team build character. Let's hope he's right.