Sheldon Keefe Throws William Nylander Under the Bus: Tensions are Clearly High in Toronto
The relationship between Sheldon Keefe and his star players has often been described as excessively close. He is known to favour his stars over others, but this appears to be changing.
With William Nylander possibly wearing a different jersey in only a few months, it appears he has fallen out of Keefe's high-graces, as the head coach has taken a needless shot at him.
Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach Sheldon Keefe Throws Star Player William Nylander Under the Bus When Addressing His Offensive Production
Nylander has been absolutely phenomenal for the Maple Leafs this season, which makes Keefe's comments even more surprising.
Following the Leafs' win in Columbus, Keefe threw Nylander under thus bus despite having had a three-point night.
"Probably the biggest thing is that we are coming off a couple of losses here," Keefe said. "Despite the fact that Matthews has been scoring consistently, I don't know if I would say Willy has been a huge contributor to those goals. I believe that Auston could still continue to be Auston and work well no matter who we have him with."
There was absolutely no reason for Keefe to call out Nylander here, considering he was the Leafs best player against Columbus. It's almost as if he sees the door closing on Nylander's future and is angry that he won't take a discount.
If I was Nylander, I definitely wouldn't be sticking around with Keefe!
| POLL | ||
DÉCEMBRE 27 | 269 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe Throws William Nylander Under the Bus: Tensions are Clearly High in Toronto Do you think Nylander is done in Toronto after this season? | ||
| Yes | 192 | 71.4 % |
| No | 77 | 28.6 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| William Nylander | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Benjamin Kindel | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Auston Matthews | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Connor McDavid | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Filip Forsberg | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Evander Kane | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Erik Karlsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrew Mangiapane | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Roslovic | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Arshdeep Bains | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Sidney Crosby | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Luke Evangelista | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Filip Hronek | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Matthew Knies | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ville Koivunen | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake McCabe | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Morgan Rielly | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||
| 2025-2026 NHL STANDINGS | ||||||
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Canadiens | 12 | 9 | 3 | - | 18 | |
| Red Wings | 13 | 9 | 4 | - | 18 | |
| Lightning | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 14 | |
| Senators | 13 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 14 | |
| Bruins | 14 | 7 | 7 | - | 14 | |
| Panthers | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 13 | |
| Sabres | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 13 | |
| Maple Leafs | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 13 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Devils | 13 | 9 | 4 | - | 18 | |
| Penguins | 13 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 18 | |
| Hurricanes | 11 | 7 | 4 | - | 14 | |
| Blue Jackets | 12 | 7 | 5 | - | 14 | |
| Rangers | 13 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 14 | |
| Islanders | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 13 | |
| Capitals | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 13 | |
| Flyers | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 13 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Avalanche | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 19 | |
| Jets | 12 | 9 | 3 | - | 18 | |
| Mammoth | 12 | 8 | 4 | - | 16 | |
| Stars | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 15 | |
| Blackhawks | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 13 | |
| Predators | 13 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 12 | |
| Wild | 13 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 11 | |
| Blues | 12 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 8 | |
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | ||
| Golden Knights | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 15 | |
| Ducks | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 15 | |
| Oilers | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 15 | |
| Kraken | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 14 | |
| Kings | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 14 | |
| Canucks | 13 | 6 | 7 | - | 12 | |
| Sharks | 13 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 11 | |
| Flames | 14 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 8 | |
COMPLETE STANDINGS | ||||||