Nylander will start Maple Leafs camp at centre, get time to grow into role

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William Nylander has become the centre of attention at Maple Leafs training camp.

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And that’s not a nod to the fact the talented forward has not signed a contract extension beyond the 2023-24 National Hockey League season.

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Not only will Nylander start on-ice sessions at centre, he’s going to get a significant chance to prove he can handle those duties on a full-time basis. 

“Moving from wing to centre is a lot more difficult on the fly than it is to move from centre to wing,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said on Wednesday at the Ford Performance Centre, as the club kicked off camp. “Giving him some time and an opportunity to grow into that position through camp and have experience and confidence to do it, it gives us a chance to see what it looks like, how it affects Willie’s game, but also how it affects our team and the flow of our team.

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“Willie has been fully on board. He’s totally comfortable playing centre. I coached him playing centre with the Marlies. So it’s not a huge leap from my position, just something we haven’t given a whole lot of runway.”

In his previous eight seasons with the Leafs, Nylander has played centre at times, but not for consistency long stretches. The most he did was during the 2017-18 season, when he took 650 faceoffs. In total, his winning percentage at the dot is 50.7% (907-883).

There’s more to the position, of course, than taking faceoffs, and there is confidence in the club that Nylander can make the transition.

“I think Willie can do whatever he puts his mind to,” Keefe said. “He’s that good. He’s that powerful. He’s that strong. At times, I have pushed William hard because I really believe in his ability and I believe he can accomplish more.”

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Nylander, who was not made available to media on Wednesday, put up career highs last season when he scored 40 goals and had 87 points.

While Keefe has given the idea of using Nylander at centre in the past, it was new general manager Brad Treliving who pushed that to reality.

“With Tree coming in, it’s a fresh of eyes and fresh set of ideas,” Keefe said. “It was something that he presented.

“I do believe (Nylander) will still move around and still play wing. I think it increases the depth of our team.”

Keefe said that captain John Tavares will remain at centre, giving the Leafs a depth chart of Auston Matthews, Tavares, Nylander and David Kampf up the middle.

As for the contract talk between Treliving and Lewis Gross, the agent for Nylander, the lines of communication will stay open.

“It’s a priority,” Treliving said. “We want to get Willie signed. Willie is a really good player. You want to keep your good players. Willie has expressed to me that he wants to be here. That’s usually a good starting point.

“After today, I’m not going to comment on it until we got something to report. I just find it’s best to do business that way and hopefully we can find a good conclusion.”

tkoshan@postmedia.com

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