In more bad news for the Maple Leafs, William Nylander's status for Monday's game vs. San Jose is in question after he missed practice with an unspecified illness.
When it rains it pours, and for the Maple Leafs they are in the middle of a storm - an injury storm that is.
John Tavares and Chris Tanev are week-to-week, Dakota Joshua is still nowhere to be seen, and Max Domi might never play for the team again. We're nine games into the NHL season and things are looking bad.
William Nylander is another victim of Toronto's injury bug
But things may have gone from bad to worse as the team had no William Nylander at practice ahead of their game Monday against the San Jose Sharks, and his playing status is still to be determined and will be updated later on:
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Nylander, 30, has been sensational this season for the Maple Leafs with 12 points in nine games while averaging a career-high 20:38. He's been a catalyst for Toronto's offense early on, and losing him would severely hinder the lineup.
Toronto being without Nylander and Tavares puts a huge hole into their top-six that not many players can really fill, and it's going to be interesting to see how Jim Hiller uses his stars on Monday if Nylander is out - and it could lead to something much different than we've seen.
Can Toronto withstand San Jose's bite without Nylander?
Well, considering they had him against the Islanders and came up short, it's going to be even tougher without one of their best scorers.
It's not like San Jose is the old Sharks either, where they weren't exactly deadly. But with Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Ivar Stenberg leading the charge, as well as Igor Chernyshov and Michael Misa providing even more support - it's a young, exciting, and hungry team.
Toronto is going to need to have their own young core of Gavin McKenna and Easton Cowan to show exactly why they too are dangerous themselves, and we get our first taste of the rivalry of 2026 top picks - McKenna at #1 and Stenberg at #2.
After Stenberg's recent comments, it's going to make things even more intense on Monday night, but the Maple Leafs may need to face that intensity without one of their biggest weapons.
Do you think William Nylander will play or miss Toronto's game vs. San Jose?
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