A new player for the Toronto Marlies Alex Nylander is excited to join William Nylander at the center of the hockey universe next season. Big brother feels the same way.
“Obviously he was really happy,” Alex told TSN on Tuesday. “We're looking forward to this. It's going to be great. Obviously I've watched the Leafs the most out of all the teams, so I know. [them] very well. We will live together with all those things. It couldn't be better.”
However, in reality, it was possible. After signing an American Hockey League contract with the Marlies, Alex hopes to get an NHL deal and play with William and the Maple Leafs.
“It helps you to be more motivated,” admitted the 26-year-old striker during a Zoom call from Stockholm. “He's going to be there all the time. He's going to be able to see what I'm doing. He's going to push me and I'm going to do the same thing to him … Playing together on the same team would be amazing.”
It last happened at the 2016 World Juniors when Nylander's boys were teammates and dominated during the tournament. They then linked up for Sweden's first goal of the tournament before Swiss striker Chris Egli knocked William out of the game minutes later.
“We are the same players,” said Alex. “We both can shoot and we like to pass at the same time. We both like to stick to the police and make plays there. I know what he's going to try to do. He's very good, so he can just get it. whenever our chemistry is right.”
That chemistry flows when he's not there when the pair train together. Although they didn't live on the same side during the summer.
“We used to play together last summer,” Alex said with a smile. “We should have united us so that we don't get into it because we will be angry with each other. We should have changed it to be in one group.”
Williams has been on the same NHL team since the Leafs drafted him eighth overall in 2014. He is coming off a career year, which saw him accumulate 98 points in 82 games while earning an invitation to the All-Star Game and an eight-year contract extension worth $92-million. The 28-year-old is showing no signs of slowing down.
“He's been getting better every day,” Alex marveled. “He's still fighting. He's still driving. He's determined every year to get better and he wants to prove that he wants to be one of the best. So, obviously that helps me and pushes me … He's very determined to get that Stanley Cup now. He's working every day. It's amazing to see how much work he's doing in the snow.
The two saw each other almost every day during the summer, but William didn't want Alex to sign with Toronto.
“He was giving me space to decide,” said Alex. “It's a big decision in my life. My goal is to play in the NHL, so we had to make a decision based on what we think is better and not because he plays there. In the end, with the teams we had. [interested]this was the best decision for me.”
Alex had a “great conversation” with Leafs management, who highlighted the fact that playing in Toronto will ensure he has more eyes on him at all times.
It has been difficult for Alex to stick in the NHL since being drafted eighth overall by the Buffalo Sabers in 2016. He played just 19 games with the Sabers over three seasons before being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for defenseman Henri Jokiharju.
Alex scored 10 goals in 65 games with the Blackhawks in the 2019-20 season. He injured his knee during the bubble game, which led to surgery and reduced his pressure. The Blackhawks ended up trading Alex to The Pittsburgh Penguins traded forward Sam Lafferty on Jan. 5, 2022.
Alex scored only one goal in 14 games with Pittsburgh Penguins for the past two seasons. However, he put up impressive numbers in the AHL, including 25 goals and 25 assists in 55 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the 2022-23 season. He had 17 goals and 15 assists in 43 games in the AHL last season.
In February, the Penguins sent Alex and a conditional sixth-round pick The Columbus Blue Jackets traded forward Emil Bemstrom. A change of scenery helped him to ride. Alex scored 11 goals and added four assists in 23 games with the Jackets.
What was clicked?
“I decided to just play my game the way I used to play in A,” he explained. “You've got to build on your confidence. You've got to work hard all the time and move your feet. I'd say take it slow.”
Nylander quickly found himself working with teammates Cole Sillinger and Alexandre Texier and scored a goal in his third game with Columbus on Feb. 29. It was his first NHL goal in nearly a calendar year.
“It gave me a confidence boost, because it had been a long time since I scored a goal in the NHL,” said Alex. “It was huge. Once I got it, we were just buzzing. I just kept playing the way I was playing in the AHL, you know, playing for free. I wasn't thinking too much there other than knowing that I just came. work, move my feet;
Coach Pascal Vincent, who was fired after the season, told Alex that he would get playing time or make mistakes as long as he was always engaged.
“That kind of helped,” Alex commented. “Just knowing that I can try to make my plays and if I work hard, he will play for me.”
Despite the departure of Vincent and the arrival of a new general manager in Don Waddell, Alex was still waiting to receive a suitable offer from Columbus. It never came.
“I thought I was going to play there,” he said. “But that's business and things like that happen. It's in the past and I don't think about that too much. I'm very happy where I'm at right now, and I'm looking forward to this opportunity. Playing for the Leafs in the future. That's my goal and I'm going to do what I can to help the Marlies every night.”
Next season won't be the first time the Nylander brothers have been in the Greater Toronto Area together. Alex played for the Mississauga Steelheads during the 2015-16 season. Williams started that year with the Marlies before making the jump to the Leafs.
“It's a great hockey town and the fans are amazing,” Alex said. “Obviously there is more pressure since the Leafs are a big market, but [William] it is amazing. He loves you … I always like to go to Toronto every time I visit. We love Toronto so much, both of us.”
The Nylander brothers plan to arrive in Toronto in early September. In the meantime, they will continue to push each other on the ice and on the golf course in Sweden.
“You're a very good golfer,” Alex said with a laugh. “It's not fair. But I've gotten better. He says he's a double handicap, a handicap, whatever you say, but he's like a beginner golfer. I don't want to play strokes. I want to play even. The handicap is like eight, so he's been winning a lot. He's better than me on the golf course, too, but I get there It's a lot of fun and it's a good competition no matter what we do.”
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