William Nylander Complains to Head Coach About Lack Of Ice Time

Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander is coming off back-to-back 40-goal seasons, but yet his ice time is down nearly two minutes per game under new head coach Craig Berube. Nylander has made it clear to his bench boss that he wants more ice time.

William Nylander has been lobbying Craig Berube for more minutes:

"I think it helps my game a lot to do what I want to be able to do out there so, yeah, hopefully that’s something we can figure out"

19:55 TOI/G last year; 18:01 so far this year https://t.co/wNF6DhZuqj
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 31, 2024

"I've been talking to (Berube) about it, trying to get my ice time back to where it was before. I think it helps my game a lot to do what I want to be able to do out there so, yeah, hopefully that’s something we can figure out."

In particular, Nylander says he misses the penalty kill minutes.

The head coach says he gets where Willie is coming from, but, essentially, he still has to earn it.

Berube on Nylander wanting more TOI: "I have no problem with it ... We talk about it. He killed penalties last year. He’s not killing penalties, so that’s a little bit of ice time there that’s off. What I do is I try & get him out there, if deserved, as much as I can"
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 31, 2024

"I have no problem with it," said Berube. "We talk about it. He killed penalties last year. He’s not killing penalties, so that’s a little bit of ice time there that’s off. What I do is I try & get him out there, if deserved, as much as I can."

"If deserved" seems like the key phrase here.

Nylander signed a huge extension last season, at eight years with an $11.5 million AAV. Per insider Chris Johnson on TSN's Insider Trading, there's "a little bit of confusion from him behind the scenes as to why things are where they're at."

Going into Thursday night's action the 28-year-old has six goals and 10 points in 10 games this season, with a plus/minus rating of +5. Last season, he had 40 goals and 98 points while playing 19:55 per night. This year, he's down to 18:01 TOI.