The Scouting Report Pretty Much Got William Nylander Right

Today, JFresh’s Newsletter released its 2014 First Round Retrospective: Projections vs. Outcomes for All 30 Players. The series looks back at what scouts thought they were getting on draft day and compares those projections with what those players actually became.

For Toronto Maple Leafs fans, one name naturally stands out. William Nylander was selected eighth overall in that first round, and his journey from highly skilled—but occasionally misunderstood—prospect to one of Toronto's most reliable offensive stars makes for a particularly interesting look back.

In many ways, the scouting report nailed Nylander.

William Nylander is an interesting player to look back at because, in a lot of ways, the scouting report got him right. The Maple Leafs knew what they were getting when they selected Nylander eighth overall in 2014. He was skilled. He was creative. He could see plays developing before other players seemed to know they were there. He could handle the puck at speed and make things happen.

There were concerns, too. He was undersized. He could be too ambitious with the puck. He wasn't exactly being described as a defensive specialist. And then there was the word that followed him around Toronto for years: soft. That one stuck.

The fact is that, as the seasons went by, Nylander became an easy target for fans who wanted to explain why the Maple Leafs weren't winning. When things went wrong, there was always somebody ready to point at him. He didn't battle enough. He didn't care enough. He tried to do too much himself. He was talented, sure, but could that talent actually translate into winning hockey?

Do fans have the real read on the enigmatic Nylander?

Looking back now, that's probably the most interesting part of his story. The scouting report wasn't wrong. It just didn't know how good those skills could become. Nylander didn't suddenly become a different player. He became a much more developed version of the player Toronto drafted.

The dazzling puck skills remained. So did the skating, vision and shooting. But Nylander got stronger, and that changed everything. Strength allowed Nylander to hold onto the puck a little longer, survive contact a little better and take the puck into areas of the ice where smaller players often get pushed away. That matters.

Plus, fans are learning that—while Nylander has his own way—part of that way is his work ethic. He’s known as a bit of a gym rat. He works hard on his game.

Nylander makes creative plays with the puck.

A player who can carry the puck through the neutral zone is useful. A player who can carry it into traffic, protect it, create space and still make the right play is something else entirely. And that's what Nylander eventually became.

Since 2021, he's been operating around a 40-goal, 90-point pace while becoming one of the Maple Leafs' most dependable offensive players. Whatever people thought about him when he was younger, it became increasingly difficult to argue that the talent wasn't translating.

There is also something wonderfully human about the whole thing. Nylander was never going to become the player some fans wanted him to be. He wasn't going to turn into a Selke Trophy candidate. He wasn't going to spend his nights winning battles along the boards and making his living blocking shots. That wasn't his game.

Over the seasons, Nylander has become really, really good at being William Nylander.

And maybe that's the lesson in looking back at an old scouting report. Scouts can identify tools. They can describe weaknesses. They can compare a teenager to Patrick Kane or Jeff Skinner. What they can't really know is how a player will grow into those tools. Nylander grew into his.

The Maple Leafs didn't just draft a skilled winger in 2014. They drafted a player who eventually learned to make his particular skill much harder to stop. And after all those years of wondering whether William Nylander was good enough, there probably isn't much left to wonder about.