Maple Leafs fans noticing unusual trend in William Nylander's 5-on-5 play

It's been an up and down year for William Nylander in 2025-26. He's leading the team in points and has showed out several times this season but has also put in a lack of defensive heart, and often finds himself caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He's been under fire from head coach Craig Berube and their recent disagreements on the bench don't lead to a lot of hope that things can be salvaged.

However, there's good reason that Berube might be upset with Nylander, considering the fact he is barely shooting the puck; at least 5-on-5.

Some new stats reveal that Nylander is not nearly shooting the puck to the level he used to at 5-on-5, and his current percentage of 4.8% is still 2 percentage points lower than his worst season which was 7.0% in 2017-18.

That's eight years difference, and while he hasn't been someone who shoots a wild amount of shots, he's at least been able to average 8-10 shots per game at 5-on-5. If he isn't picking it up at even strength, and the team's power play is continuing to be awful; where is his scoring coming from?

Nylander has arguably one of the best, if not currently the best shot on the Maple Leafs. Why he is so hesitant to let the puck fly is a bit perplexing, although it could be Nylander's way of silently protesting Berube.

Now, there's no evidence that proves Nylander is doing this on purpose, but if there are no injuries to be seen, and it's just a matter of the star forward putting in a half-hearted effort then that's a serious issue.

Him refusing to shoot or simply not care enough to get offense started is only going to hinder the team. It might not be completely on purpose, but whatever his mindset is will not lead to any success down the line; he needs to play both sides of the puck with equal amounts of heart.

It's felt like the team has quit on Berube at times, especially this past week. But one positive that makes it feel like maybe it's just a mental block for Nylander is that he was the first to show up at practice, which says a lot about other stars on the roster.

At least he's trying, but he needs to try harder and if he's really got a vendetta against Craig Berube then we'll really find out in the next week how he responds both on and off the ice.