TORONTO — William Nylander didn’t practise with the Maple Leafs Monday morning, but did come out afterward to address some of the confusion with his current injury as well as the middle finger he delivered to a TV camera Sunday afternoon.
Nylander resumed skating over the weekend and skated again before Monday’s practice, but will miss his sixth straight game with a groin injury Tuesday night when the Leafs host the Buffalo Sabres.
He said he hoped to return at some point on the Leafs’ upcoming road trip, which begins Thursday night in Seattle.
The following week, he’ll join Team Sweden at the Olympics in Italy.
“It obviously (would be) nice to get a game before heading over there, but I want to be back as soon as possible, playing here and hopefully getting some wins before heading over to the Olympics,” Nylander said.
“The only thing we’re thinking of is helping our team,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “And I get the Olympics, and it’s important to his country and to the player. But we’re looking at getting him quickly (back in) to help our team.”
Contrary to how it may have appeared at the time, Nylander said the re-aggravation of his groin injury didn’t stem from a goal celebration in Vegas Jan. 15. “Nothing happened there,” he said. “It was before that, the first shift, and then I tried to keep playing and just didn’t feel great.”
Nylander played four shifts that night in an eventual 6-5 overtime loss to the Golden Knights; he notched an assist on the first and a goal on the second.
This marks the first time Nylander has missed significant time with injuries in the regular season during his Leafs career.
In fact, Nylander had missed only one regular-season game to injury before this season.
William Nylander games missed to injury
SeasonGames missed to injury
2015-16
0
2016-17
1
2017-18
0
2018-19
0
2019-20
0
2020-21
0
2021-22
0
2022-23
0
2023-24
0
2024-25
0
2025-26
14
He has missed 14 this year due to injuries and one more for an illness.
“He wants to play. He wants to be here helping the team, for sure,” Berube said. “Willy’s gone a long time in his career without missing games. It’s been different this year for him, so it’s something new that he’s going through. It’s hard for a player who wants to be out there.
“It is frustrating,” Berube added. “We want him out here, too. He wants to be playing. So, he’s doing everything he can to get back.”
Nylander said it was that frustration, sitting in the press box with other scratched players, that led him to flash the middle finger to the TSN camera during Sunday’s broadcast of the team’s game against the Colorado Avalanche. He apologized on Instagram soon after the game. The NHL fined Nylander $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for the gesture on Monday.
“I was just frustrated,” he said Monday. “I apologize for that.”
“He made a mistake. He owned up to it,” Berube said. “Things happen. People make mistakes. Players make mistakes. Coaches make mistakes. It happens. He knows it’s wrong and he owned up to it.”
Despite missing time, Nylander continues to lead the Leafs in scoring with 48 points.
The Leafs have lost four of the five games he’s missed during this recent absence and six of seven overall.
“You don’t fill that void,” said Berube. “Your team’s got to fill that void. Not one player’s gonna come in and be William Nylander. That’s not realistic.”