Whenever the Maple Leafs’ season ends… what if William Nylander is part of the long-term solution?

Credit: William Nylander (© Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports)

Wins don’t have to be scintillating offensive masterpieces in the playoffs. The Toronto Maple Leafs put on plenty of those in the regular season but, on Wednesday night at FLA Live Arena, they flexed a grittier muscle and finally played like a team that truly understood what it took to stay alive. They won Game 4 against the Florida Panthers 2-1 and staved off a sweep by doing so many of the little things right.

They started on time, making sure to fire pucks on goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky from all angles rather than chase the pretty play. They fought through enough checks to draw their first penalties since Game 2. They shrugged off some headscratching missed calls, from a high-stick that bloodied Michael Bunting and should’ve been a double-minor rather than a minor to a thunderous late hit from Radko Gudas on David Kampf after a whistle. They received steady, athletic, almost rebound-free goaltending from rookie Joseph Woll, which was absolutely vital with Bobrovsky standing on his head at that the other end, especially in the first two periods. Toronto blocked 21 shots compared to Florida’s nine and won 62 percent of the faceoffs. They weathered the Panthers’ third-period onslaught.

“The first thing is that they care: we didn’t want to go quietly and that’s what we talked about,” coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters after Game 4. “That’s the standard, what we’ve been trying to get to. But no matter who ends up with the puck over the line, we have to play a team game.”

They got improved efforts from some of their core stars, most notably Mitch Marner, whose third-period shot careened in off Panthers blueliner Gustav Forsling and ended up standing as the game winner. It was Marner’s first career second-round postseason goal.

Earlier in the game, however, before the Leafs found their control – and their confidence – William Nylander was the first of their big-name forwards to show up.

It was a long time coming. While Marner and Auston Matthews had milk-cartoned themselves from Games 1 to 3, Nylander was by far Toronto’s most dangerous forward, the only one managing to consistently threaten the Panthers at 5-on-5 and drive the play in the right direction. And during the first half of Game 4, when the Leafs were laboring on their zone entries, Nylander was ragging the puck, and even beating the Panthers to pucks along the boards. Ironically, in a game when the Leafs finally showed a real work ethic rather than waiting for chances to be gifted to them, they got a gift, right onto Nylander’s stick like a magnet, an immaculate deflection off the skate of official Gord Dwyer during a second-period power play. Karmically, Nylander had earned the lucky break. It put the Leafs up 1-0, and they never relinquished a lead in the game after that. A big reason why: with the score still 1-0, Nylander made a desperate backcheck to break up an odd-man rush late in the second period.

The Leafs owned an expected goal share above 70 percent with No. 88 out there in Game 4, and coach Sheldon Keefe evidently recognized that Nylander had something, briefly loading up for a super line, placing him on the left wing with Matthews and Marner.

It’s not like Nylander singlehandedly willed his team to victory Wednesday. The Leafs gave a true team effort, right down to the dying minutes, when blueliner Luke Schenn used a stick check to thwart a dangerous Carter Verhaeghe chance and Ryan O’Reilly made a diving swipe to knock the puck into Florida’s zone and kill time. Coach Sheldon Keefe called the win one of the team’s best all-around efforts of the season. But one could argue it was Nylander who set the tone with a maxed out compete level when the game was still anyone’s to win.

And efforts like those could stick in the back of GM Kyle Dubas’ mind, or the mind of any incoming GM, whenever the Leafs’ season comes to an end.

If Toronto becomes just the fifth team in 105 years to rally from a 3-0 series deficit, OK, the entire band earns the right to stay together and keep pushing for a Stanley Cup. Any other result, particularly a flat season-ending effort at home in Game 5 Friday, would put Toronto on the path to nuking its roster – and perhaps its management structure – as we know it. But does it have to be Nylander who becomes the casualty if the Leafs end up making a major overhaul this summer?

He’s been the name called out for supposed lackadaisical efforts year in, year out from prehistoric fans with a lingering of xenophobic Coach’s Corner aftertaste in their mouths, cherrypicking video clips. It’s always Nylander tabled as the necessary sacrifice should the Leafs, for example, decide to acquire another top-four defenseman. His regular-season numbers will never pop like Matthews’ and Marner’s do. Nylander’s career highs of 40 goals and 87 points, both set this season, make him a great NHL forward but not a superstar. The idea has always been: if it’s between Nylander and Matthews or Marner, Nylander is the lower-ceiling player and has to go. Especially when 2023-24 marks the final season of his deal.

But the counterpoint would highlight that Nylander’s cap hit of $6.96 million isn’t just attractive in a trade but extremely attractive to hold for another season at least, and that he, more than any other Core Four forward, has shown up in the deeper waters of the playoffs – a trait that, theoretically, the Leafs want to harvest more of going forward. It also stands to reason that, in the true scorched-earth scenario, a Marner or Matthews would also bring in much more in a trade. So has Nylander possibly earned himself the right to be part of the long-term solution, especially when he’s significantly cheaper to keep around on his next contract?

The Leafs’ dogged determination in Game 4 earned them the right to delay heavy questions like these for at least a few more days.

“It’s not going to get easier,” Nylander told reporters after Game 4. “We know we’re up against a great team and just got to keep digging in and playing harder and harder every game that goes.”

But it’ll be interesting to see how Nylander’s effort stands up against the teams’ other stars whenever it’s time to eulogize their season.

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Whenever the Maple Leafs’ season ends… what if William Nylander is part of the long-term solution?

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