Boston Bruins: How will the Bruins handle William Nylander?
By Luke Ryan
The Boston Bruins have plenty of Toronto Maple Leafs players to keep them busy on Friday night, not least of all, William Nylander.
In his past 3 games, William Nylander has 5 points for the Maple Leafs, with that statistic stretching to 7 points in his last 5 starts. He will be a player that the Boston Bruins properly need to keep an eye on.
With Mitch Marner out injured and John Tavares looking a little bit less than his usual self so far this year, the line centered by Auston Matthews with William Nylander on his wing has been scoring best for the Maple Leafs.
Tavares’ recent form raises the question of whether you leave him to David Krejci and focus the Patrice Bergeron line on the likes of Matthews and Nylander or do you go with the opposite of that approach.
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Given the fact that Krejci has been rotating through line-mates of late, what with the injuries to Karson Kuhlman and Jake Debrusk, I’d go with the former. In all likelihood, you focus Sean Kuraly‘s group on the trio not targeted by our the Boston Bruins’ top line.
The biggest challenge for the Boston Bruins when it comes to William Nylander is ensuring he isn’t given any space whilst on the puck.
A Corsi For score of 57.02% thus far this season highlights just how strong he is when in possession, but if you can limit that, he’s also a player that has been singled out in the past for not doing too much back-checking.
The Boston Bruins should focus the defensive might of Zdeno Chara, with his long reach and ability to shake players up on William Nylander and Auston Matthews. If you can subdue them to the point they’re fearful of hits, you’re absolutely going to limit their play-making abilities.
Perhaps the best question is whether Charlie McAvoy is best deployed alongside Chara, as has been the case for most of this season so far, or whether to look at some alternate pairing in the hopes of sparking some offensive game from McAvoy.
The Maple Leafs are a team that has iffy defense at best; giving McAvoy slightly easier minutes in the hopes of sparking him could be a very wise move by Boston Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy.
Especially with Torey Krug likely out, you could maybe consider a shake-up on the blue-line. It’s hardly going to hurt given we’re four games deep in a losing streak already.
Conclusion is; if you can limit the time and space that William Nylander has, he is likely to give the puck up and turnovers can lead to rush chances, especially with the risks the Maple Leafs take on offense.
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The Boston Bruins would be incredibly wise to focus on doing solely that if they’re hoping to leave Toronto with two points on Friday.