Maple Leafs Coach Craig Berube Meets With William Nylander, Calls Him Out

Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander

William Nylander was not present at practice for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, but he was present in head coach Craig Berube's office for a little meeting. The coach elaborated with the media on what they discussed. And it wasn't the weather.

Berube on Nylander: "Spoke to him today. I'm like, 'I don't know if you're playmaker now or are you going to shoot?' He needs to shoot & he understands that & that's on the PP too. He agreed. More direct & shoot pucks ... We need him to shoot the puck"https://t.co/XHQQBTV15g
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) March 20, 2026

"I spoke to him today. I'm like, 'I don't know if you're a playmaker now or are you going to shoot for me?' He needs to shoot the puck and he understands that. And that's on the power play too. He understood and he agreed. More direct and shoot pucks, score goals. We need him to shoot the puck."

The Leafs' leading scorer, Nylander has just two shots on goal in each of the past three games. Additionally, he has not scored in those three contests since it was announced that Auston Matthews would miss the rest of the season, thanks to the now-infamous dirty hit from Radko Gudas. Matthews underwent surgery on Thursday.

Just for context, the league-leader in shots per game, Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, has taken 4.48 shots per contest, while the rest of the top 10 average 3.5 shots on goal per game or more. Nylander, who had been at that 3.5 per game level for the last three seasons, is at just 2.23 shots per game this year.

After three straight years as a 40-goal scorer, Nylander is sitting on just 23 goals this season in 52 games, with 63 points.

The Leafs are second-last in the Eastern Conference with 70 points, with the 7th-worst record overall in the NHL. We'll leave the rest unsaid.