The Streak is Broken for Maple Leafs Winger William Nylander
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Maple Leafs winger William Nylander had quite the streak going for himself, until his absence in Saturday's game against the Buffalo Sabres stopped it in its tracks.
William Nylander has become the portrait of reliability for the Leafs in recent years, suiting up and playing in all but one game over the past 4 seasons before 2025-26.
During that time, Nylander has consistently pushed the envelope, recording 34, 40, 40 and 45 goals in consecutive seasons, even watching his single season points total soar to 98 points in 2023-24.
Nylander's Streak Comes to an Abrupt End
As Nylander continues to evolve and become a more complete player, he has finally hit a bump in the road. After missing Saturday's game against the Sabres, Nylander's iron man streak has come to an end at 267 games. Yes, 267 games... you can't make this stuff up.
Nylander Never a Realistic Threat to Catch Kessel
Nylander was on quite the streak, but even after not missing a single game in any of the last 3 seasons, he still had a long way to go to catch current NHL iron man streak recordholder Phil Kessel.
The former Leafs sniper managed to play in 1,064 consecutive NHL games, a feat stretching well over a decade without missing a single game. That's beyond impressive, when you consider how fast the modern game is.
Kessel was open to surrendering his iron man streak if it meant continuing his NHL career, but unfortunately, no teams were willing to offer the veteran an NHL contract, forcing his career to a close after he captured his 3rd career Stanley Cup.
For Nylander, I don't think there was ever a true mission to best Kessel's very lofty iron man streak, but there's no question that Willy loves his hockey and wants to play as much of it as he possibly can.
