Nylander could be ‘biggest spark’ for Sweden at 4 Nations

TORONTO -- There was a confident swagger in William Nylander’s strut when he entered the NHL.com interview room at the 2019 NHL/NHLPA European Players Media Tour in Stockholm.

Just like there was in his words when he sat down.

“I’m looking forward to dominate,” the Toronto Maple Leafs forward brashly said.

Almost six years later, he is doing exactly that, ranking second in the NHL in goals with 33 heading into the Maple Leafs’ meeting with the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, SN).

After that, he’ll be on a flight to Montreal where he’ll join his Sweden teammates for 4 Nations Face-Off. The Swedes will immediately be put to the test when they open the tournament against host Canada at the raucous Bell Centre on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).

For Sweden coach Sam Hallam, the hope is that Nylander’s current NHL success will translate into the same for the Tre Kroner. In a best-case scenario, maybe signs of Nylander’s self-proclaimed drive to dominate?

“Look he might be the biggest spark we have on the team,” Hallam said. “Just watch him play. His individual skills are on display on a nightly basis.

“But he’s much more than that. From what I’ve seen, he’s all about the team. He’s repetitively represented Sweden on the international stage when he’s had the chance. He cares about the team, the people on it and how much success it has.”

A recipe that led Hallam and the Swedish hierarchy to name him one of the alternates to captain Victor Hedman.

“We appreciate everything he’s done for Sweden so we want to give him additional responsibility,” Hallam said. “He’s earned it.”

Hedman couldn’t agree more.

As a defenseman with the Tampa Bay Lightning, he’s faced the Maple Leafs forward multiple times, including frequent Atlantic Division games against Toronto, not to mention a pair of Stanley Cup Playoff series (2022, 2023). As such, in the case of Nylander, he’s looking forward to foe becoming friend.

“It’s going to be fun,” Hedman said. “We’re really looking forward to the tournament. And just like flipping the switch with him, we’ll be flipping the switch with some of my Lightning teammates in the other way, like with (Anthony) Cirelli, (Brayden) Point and (Brandon) Hagel, who all play for Canada. Our first game is against Canada. Suddenly (Nylander) will go from opponent to teammate, and those three will go from teammates to opponents.

“I played together with ‘Willy’ at the World Championships (in 2017) where we won (gold). Hopefully we can do that again.”

Swedish defenseman Erik Karlsson has similar aspirations when it comes to the upcoming tournament. And he’s embracing the chance to play with Nylander in order to obtain that goal.

“I haven’t played with Willy before so I’m looking forward to it,” the Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman said. “Willy is going to be very fun for me to play with.

“Watching his game, it’s very easy for me in the position of being his teammate to read his qualities, his tendencies and what he likes to do out there. It’s much harder to read him when you’re going against him. Even though you might know what he’s going to do and how he likes to play the game, you have to play it differently.

“So it’s going to be nice to play on the same side of the puck with him for a change.”

In that same vein, add Sweden forward Jesper Bratt of the New Jersey Devils to the list of players who are eager to play with Nylander. The two skate together in the offseason in Stockholm, although they’re rarely on the same team.

“I don’t really play with him too much in the summer when we scrimmage because we’re usually against each other,” Bratt said. “He’s an amazing player, so dynamic. He reminds me a lot of [Devils forward Jack Hughes] with his skating, shot, shiftiness and puck control.

“It would be really special to get on a line with him.”

Informed of Bratt’s comments, Nylander replied: “I skated with Jesper a little bit in the summer. He’s a tremendous player. And obviously, there’s a lot of great guys but he’d be a fun guy to play with, that’s for sure.”

When it comes to representing Sweden, Nylander’s had no shortage of experience.

The highlight came in that 2017 World Championship when he made his national team debut and topped the tournament in scoring with 14 points (seven goals, seven assists). He subsequently was named the most valuable player of the tournament, which the Swedes won.

Two years later, he again topped tournament scoring, this time at the 2019 World Championship. His 18 points (five goals, 13 assists), however, could not keep the Swedes from being eliminated in the quarterfinal by rival Finland.

He also represented Sweden at the 2022 Worlds, where he had five points (three goals, two assists) in three games. On this occasion the Swedes were eliminated by Canada in the quarterfinals.

Now, 4 Nations has given him the international stage to compete for Sweden in the first best-on-best competition since the World Cup of Hockey 2016. The event, which will be in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20, features Sweden, Finland, the United States and Canada.

“It’ll be great,” Nylander said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

* * * *

The laughter that roared throughout the media center at Scotiabank Arena on the morning of Jan. 29 was courtesy of a quip from Nylander.

And it was well earned.

Eight hours before the Maple Leafs hosted the Minnesota Wild, Nylander came to the podium after Toronto’s optional morning skate. There, he was asked if he’d made any friendly wagers with his Maple Leafs teammates on who will win 4 Nations.

"No, not yet, but I was telling [Auston Matthews] I might drop the gloves," Nylander joked.

Cue the chuckles and howls throughout the room.

The odds of Nylander and Matthews, his Maple Leafs teammate and captain of the United States, going fist city? Pretty much nil.

At the same time, his sarcastic quip was an inside peek at the magnetizing character that is the soft-spoken Nylander.

Or, should we say, Willy Styles.

That’s the nickname bestowed on him by future Hall of Fame Joe Thornton after the two lived with Matthews, defenseman Rasmus Sandin and Mac Hollowell in a house for several weeks when they first came back to Canada prior to the 2021 season during the COVID pandemic. Thornton had signed with Toronto as an unrestricted free agent on Oct. 16, 2020.

Soon afterward, Nylander started writing the name “Willy Styles” near the top of all his sticks. He began doing interviews shirtless, a habit Thornton had started during his own illustrious career.

Asked what the nickname referred to, Thornton chuckled and said, “I can’t tell you.”

Connect the dots, however, and it seems obvious.

In the end, Willy Styles speaks to the way William Nylander now tends to his business. With his unique fashion taste, he marches to his own laid-back drummer. He never seems to have a sense of urgency, never seems to fret, never seems to panic. He takes everything in stride.

He at times takes the subway to games in downtown Toronto, with commuters gasping in awe at the sight of him. He’s frequently seen walking his dogs down the street, a once-seemingly private person who no longer seems to fear public exposure. When the Maple Leafs played in Stockholm during the 2023 Global Series in November of that year, he was treated as a rock star and generously accepted it, signing hundreds of autographs at a downtown sporting goods store and doing various interviews with local media and talk shows.

It was a far cry from the once-private kid who seemed to have broken out of his shell with his, “I look forward to dominate” comment of 2019.

At that point, it seemed to be a foreshadow of the Willy Styles character we know now and see on a regular basis.

Since the beginning of the 2023-24 season Nylander ranks seventh in the NHL in goals with 73. Through it all, he’s consistently kept that “what, me worry?” attitude that has defined the Willy Styles era.

"Pressure? Willy? I don't think Willy ever feels pressure," teammate Mitch Marner said. “That guy's mellow all the time.

"He's chillin'."

And scoring.

* * * *

Don’t mistake Nylander’s live and let live image as being a lack of competitive fire.

Anything but.

There was a time when the same stereotype was made concerning Mats Sundin, the first Swede to be the No. 1 pick in an NHL Draft when he was selected at that spot by the Quebec Nordiques in 1989.

Sundin would go on to be the captain of the Maple Leafs from 1997-2008, all the while attempting to balance his love of privacy with being under the public microscope in hockey-mad Toronto. In the end, he succeeded at that, becoming more confident in public speaking and starring in a number of commercials.

Now, more than a decade later from his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013, Sundin looks at Nylander and sees a self-confident player who has come into his own, all while playing in one of hockey’s most intense markets.

Sundin was the captain of the 2006 Swedish team that won the gold medal at the Turin Olympics. Now, he’s turned into a fan and is hoping Nylander can help the Swedes enjoy similar international success, both at 4 Nations and at the 2026 Milano Corina Olympics.

“William is playing as well as he ever has, and it’s great to see,” Sundin said. “It’s going to be great seeing him go up against the best players in the world and show what he can do.”

Hallam, Hedman and the rest of the Swedish team hope he can do so at his elite level.

If not dominate.