William Nylander Blunt and Honest About His Team's Underwhelming Performance This Season

After a few days of much needed rest, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be returning to the ice surface tonight when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers.

Their early season struggles have been well-documented, and with a disappointing 5-5-1 record in the books, the Leafs are looking to get out of the basement of the Atlantic Division in a hurry.

One way to achieve that is by playing a simple game, following their head coach's system, and cutting "stupid plays", according to superstar winger William Nylander.

Nylander, who is never one to shy away from brutal honesty, believes the Leafs are on the cusp of playing better hockey, but have a lot of work to do in eliminating boneheaded mistakes.

The 29-year-old, who is tracking on making his return to the lineup against the Flyers, doesn't think it's going to be a difficult task to achieve, but playing the right way has not been the strong suit of the Leafs thus far.

According to MoneyPuck, the Maple Leafs are 4th in the league with 172 giveaways to opponents and 12th in defensive zone giveaways with 78.

Defenseman Morgan Rielly leads the team with 23 giveaways and 16 of them in the defensive zone, while Auston Matthews and Nicholas Roy each have 17 giveaways.

With the Leafs expected to ice a much healthier roster tonight, it will be interesting to see how they bounce back from a deflating 6-3 loss on Wednesday -- one that saw some fans throwing jerseys onto the ice surface.

With 5 games in the next 9 days, the Leafs have to be better prepared and in short order. As brutally honest as they were, Nylander's words should resonate with the entire club, with eyes on sticking to the game plan, which should yield positive results.