William Nylander sick, misses Leafs skate vs. Sharks
TLDR: William Nylander missed Monday's morning skate with an illness before the Leafs host the Sharks, and Toronto called up Vinni Lettieri and Artur Akhtyamov the same morning.
The first sign that something was up came before anyone said Nylander's name: the call-ups.
Leafs have called up Vinni Lettieri & Artur Akhtyamov, per @LeafsPR @TSN_Sports
About 20 minutes later, the reason came out. Nylander was sick and staying off the ice for the morning skate, per the team.
William Nylander is going to miss the morning skate today due to illness, per @LeafsPR Leafs host Sharks tonight @TSN_Sports
Here's the part to keep straight: missing a morning skate is not the same as being scratched. Guys skip the optional skate because they're sick all the time and still play that night. The team said illness and nothing about tonight's lineup, so for now Nylander is a game-time question. But you don't usually bring up 2 bodies on the morning of a game unless you want some cover in case somebody can't go.
And Toronto can't really afford to lose him. The Leafs come into tonight 3-4-2 with 8 points, a rough start for a team that's supposed to be a contender. Nylander has been carrying his share of the offense with 5 goals and 7 assists for 12 points, right behind Auston Matthews, who leads the club with 13. In the 6-3 win over Colorado, Nylander and Easton Cowan scored 46 seconds apart to break that game open. Take that out of the lineup and a team that's already struggling to stack wins gets a lot thinner up front.
The Sharks aren't a team you can show up half-awake against anymore, either. San Jose rolls into Scotiabank Arena at 4-3-1 with 9 points, 1 point ahead of the Leafs, so this isn't the free 2 points it would have been a couple of years ago.
So what's next: watch warmups ahead of the 7:30 PM ET puck drop. If Nylander is out there, the call-ups were just insurance. If he isn't, one of those new guys is probably playing tonight and the Leafs have to find offense without their 2nd-leading scorer in a game they really need.