William Nylander Returns to Maple Leafs Practice With a Twist Fans Didn't Expect

As the Toronto Maple Leafs come off a dominating 7-2 win over Montreal on Thursday night, the atmosphere in the locker room had to be beaming.

Well so was Friday's practice as it saw the return of William Nylander after he was held out of practice for a maintenance day, and he looks ready for business as he was seen in a full contact jersey at practice:

Seeing Nylander in a full contact jersey not only relieves the anxiety surrounding a potential injury to the star forward, and he'll be no doubt ready to go for Toronto's next preseason game.

But what's even better news is that perhaps those Craig Berube 'maintenance days' will end up being just that, and won't lead into something long-term which was often the case last year.

While it is only the preseason, and the Maple Leafs lineup is anything but set in stone, having a strong finish and coming out like they did against Montreal is going to build much needed confidence.

Nylander, 28, has been a shining star for Toronto since being drafted and has become one of the best pure scorers in the NHL with a trio of consecutive 40+ goal seasons.

But beyond his offensive prowess, he brings stability and reliability. One of the only Maple Leafs to stay consistently healthy, he's only missed a handful of games and had one serious setback in his career, otherwise he's as sure as can be.

The team is going to need him to not only stay healthy but perhaps be even better than he has been especially with Mitch Marner gone, and he could very well eclipse the 50-goal mark this season.

As Toronto looks ahead to the regular season, they have to make sure they build up enough momentum with their remaining preseason games.

Thankfully, it looks like Nylander is going to be a huge part of them earning that confidence before October hits.