At the end of his first on-ice session of training camp, William Nylander skated slowly around his teammates stretching at centre ice and gave each of them a stick tap on the butt.
Then he ripped a few one-timers from the top of a faceoff circle and skated off the ice.
Since camp officially opened a day earlier, the 27-year-old has been the hot topic in Toronto, not only because he’s headed into a contract year after putting up career highs last season, but also because the Maple Leafs’ brass have decided to move Nylander from wing to centre.
And on Thursday, Nylander skated between Calle Jarnkrok and Max Domi, a fresh face here in Toronto.
“Oh, fun,” Nylander said, with a smile, of the switch to centre, while standing under a tent outside the Leafs’ practice facility in Toronto’s West end, wearing white sneakers, grey sweatpants, a black t-shirt and diamond-studded hoop earrings in both ears, his blonde hair slicked back.
“I’m excited. I mean, just happy to be back. And I told [coach] Sheldon [Keefe] wherever he wants me to play, I’ll play.”
On his contract, Nylander hasn’t wavered in his message either, and he also delivers this in a very laid-back fashion.
“You know what, I want to be here, and this is where I want to play,” he said, and he mentioned he’s letting his agent take care of the details, and he won’t be entertaining other questions about his contract. “I’ve only known Toronto, and this is the place I want to be.”
Keefe, for one, doesn’t think contract talks are going to get in the way of Nylander’s play.