Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs placed Alex Nylander and Dakota Mermis on NHL waivers on Wednesday, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Mermis was activated from long-term injured reserve and will likely return to the AHL once he clears waivers. But Nylander initially signed with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies despite saying he had other NHL offers for the chance to play with his brother, William, with the Maple Leafs. He got that opportunity when injuries arose, but now he’s back on waivers for 31 other teams to claim after five NHL games.
Once Alex Nylander is cleared, the #Leaves will have more flexibility in its roster. Explaining Alex and Mermis’ waiver decisions, and what it says about Fraser Minten’s position with the club.⤵️https://t.co/azkdPe1fm6
– David Alter (@dalter) December 11, 2024
When the parent club signed the 26-year-old to an NHL contract and called him up, Nylander recorded eight goals and 12 points in 14 AHL games with the Marlies. He also entered this season having scored 11 goals and 15 points in 23 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2023-24.
But his flashes of success with the Blue Jackets and Marlies didn’t translate to the Maple Leafs this season.
In his three preseason games for Toronto, Nylander had a minus-1 rating and took three shots but had no points.
In the five games Nylander played with the Maple Leafs between November 24 and December 7, he still had no points, took four shots and posted a deficit of 1.
While he won three of four faceoffs, Nylander had one takeaway and three giveaways. And when he was on the ice at 5-on-5, the Maple Leafs had about 46 percent of the chances and about 39 percent of the expected goals, according to naturalstattrick.com.
A big difference between Nylander’s time with the Maple Leafs and his action with the Blue Jackets was ice time. He spent an average of 16:46 on the ice in Columbus, compared to 9:53 with the Maple Leafs. After spending around 10 minutes in his first two games, he logged 8:32 of ice time the next game, followed by 9:53 and 9:18. He also got power play time with the Leafs, averaging 1:38 in that regard.
As David Alter of Hockey News explainedleft winger Bobby McMann is expected to return from injury soon, and Max Domi already has. That makes Nylander next in line after the Maple Leafs assigned Nikita Grebenkin to the Marlies on Tuesday after zero points and 13 hits in seven games.
NHL teams that were reportedly interested in Nylander this offseason can now claim him without trading anything or anyone. He has a cap hit of $775,000 for this season and is a pending UFA. Otherwise, the Leafs can reassign him to the Marlies.
The Buffalo Sabers drafted Nylander eighth overall in 2016. Since then, he has played for the Sabres, Blackhawks, Penguins, Blue Jackets and Maple Leafs, recording an NHL total of 25 goals and 49 points in 126 matches.
Get the latest news and trends delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below on the article on THN.com or by visit our forum.
Related: Is Toronto Maple Leafs Star Mitch Marner Worth a Bigger Cap Than Other ‘Core Four’ Players?
