William Nylander Benched Saturday Night vs Canadiens

The Toronto Maple Leafs sit atop the NHL's standings and a big reason has been the changing of their defensive philosophies. Head coach Sheldon Keefe wants his team to be as focused on defense as they are on offense as they can essentially score goals at will. 

However, the likes of Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Mitch Marner have all made strides on the defensive side of the puck, but unfortunately Saturday night, the same could not be said for William Nylander.

The Leafs coach didn't like what he saw from Nylander in the 3rd period in a tight game against the Montreal Canadiens and Nylander was stapled to to bench because of it. 

Here's what Coach Keefe had to say about his decision to sit Nylander late in the game:

I thought both tonight and last game he’s had a lot of really good stretches where he’s got good legs and he looks real dangerous, like he’s ready to break out. I didn’t like some of the things here today once we got the lead. As a team, I didn’t think we did great things in the second period. But in the third period we really got it going the way we wanted to, and I didn’t think Willy matched that.

Nylander's name has been blasted recently by some of Toronto's 'reporters' and it's nothing new for the young forward to hear some of the noise. 

Nylander's 13:55 of ice-time on Saturday was the lowest it's been in over a year and the team is hoping he will continue to be devoted to a 200-foot game, much like we're seeing out of some of the Maple Leafs' superstars.

The good news for Leafs fans is Nylander and Keefe have a great relationship that stems back to their Toronto Marlies days and they can expect the player to bounce back. The 24-year-old Swedish winger is a huge part of the Leafs core moving forward and his 14 points in 19 games is certainly a sign of things to come for Nylander and the 1st place Leafs.

Photo credit: David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire