Craig Berube was encouraged by the play of Alex Nylander in his Maple Leafs debut and shared his thoughts on being able to get him on the ice with his brother.
Alex Nylander signed a 1-year deal with the Maple Leafs on Friday and was immediately recalled from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, setting up a reunion with his big brother, William Nylander.
Thanks to the absence of several key forwards, Alex made his Leafs debut alongside his brother William Nylander on Sunday.
The brothers were thrilled about the opportunity to play together, but Berube had different ideas as he had them on separate lines at practice Saturday.
Naturally, Chief found moments where he was able to get the brothers out together on a few shifts, including after a penalty kill with John Tavares.
“It is great, for sure,” said Berube of getting the brothers on the ice together. “Any time you can play with your brother, play some shifts with your brother, and be on the ice with him, it is a special thing. It is a special situation. I am very happy for both of them and their dad, who was a player in the league for a long time.”
William doubled his brother’s ice-time with over 22 minutes, but in his 10:37 of ice-time Alex looked good. He registered two shots on goal and had a handful of chances and Berube was pleased overall with his performance.
“He was fine. He had a couple of chances – a couple of looks. I used him in different situations, but I thought he was fine overall.”As the Leafs slowly get healthy, with Auston Matthews expected to return on Wednesday and Matthew Knies resuming skating on Sunday, the Leafs will face some difficult roster decisions over the next few weeks, but based on his usage, Alex Nylander appears set to get more than a one-game audition with the Leafs over Alex Steeves and potentially even rookie center Fraser Minten.
