Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander did not attend Tuesday’s morning skate due to illness, the team confirmed.
Nylander played in the team’s first three games of the season, recording two goals in Saturday’s home opener victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
As a result of Nylander’s absence, Maple Leafs head coach reshuffled the lines. Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner will remain as Toronto’s top line, while Pontus Holmberg took reps with John Tavares and Nick Robertson, while Max Domi centred Bobby McMann and Max Pacioretty during Tuesday’s practice, via Sportsnet’s Luke Fox.
Tavares returned to practice Tuesday after missing Saturday’s game against the Penguins with an illness. The team ruled him out of Saturday’s morning skate and he did not attend Monday’s practice.
Pacioretty took reps on the team’s first power play unit alongside Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who has been promoted to the top unit, while Morgan Rielly worked with Domi, Robertson, McMann and Knies on the second unit.
Nylander played in all 82 regular season games last season, before missing three playoff games against the Boston Bruins due to migraines. He’s coming off the best season of his career, where he recorded 40 goals and 98 points.
In other news, Joseph Woll returned to the ice before the practice session formally began but did not practice with the team. Woll is eligible to return from injured reserve Wednesday against the Los Angeles Kings, after being placed on IR Wednesday ahead of the season opener against the Montreal Canadiens. Toronto hasn’t named its starter for Wednesday’s game, but it appears likely that Anthony Stolarz may be in line for his third start of the year, coming off a terrific opening week.
It’s unclear at the time of this filing if Nylander will be ruled out Wednesday against the Kings or if it’s merely a precautionary measure.
