Maple Leafs Confirm William Nylander's Health Status Ahead of Tilt with Flyers

William Nylander suffered a lower-body injury last Friday against the Buffalo Sabres, which has held him out for multiple games.

Earlier this week, the Leafs announced that Nylander, who was a game-time decision in Columbus, would not play in what turned out to be a disastrous effort against the Blue Jackets on Wednesday to manage his injury.

At the time, the move made sense and there was no sense of panic from the Leafs about it being a long-term injury. With a couple of days off before tonight's game against the Flyers, everyone expected the 29-year-old back in the lineup on Saturday.

That was seemingly confirmed when he returned to practice on the top line alongside Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies on Friday -- or so it seemed.

At the Leafs' morning skate on Saturday, 'The Hockey News' David Alter shared that Max Domi was taking reps on the Leafs' top power-play unit instead of Nylander, indicating that Nylander was less likely to return than previously expected.

Shortly after practice, the Leafs confirmed that Nylander would be watching from the press box on Saturday night, missing his third game in the last four.

For Nylander, this will be the first time since the 2021-2022 season where he won't play in all 82 regular season games.

Not having Nylander absolutely hurts the Leafs, but I think the Leafs are taking a harder stance on what they think can be played through and what sort of injuries require more rest this season after the heat they took in the management of Matthews' injury last season.