The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to be undermanned and need bodies. On Friday, the team announced that Matthew Knies won’t play on Sunday against the Utah Hockey Club. The left winger was hit hard by Vegas Golden Knights defenceman Zach Whitecloud and didn’t return to the game. He was placed on IR retroactively on Nov. 20, which means so soonest he can return is on Wednesday against the Florida Panthers. With Knies now out, this is the seventh forward that is unavailable for the Maple Leafs. The others are; Auston Matthews (IR), Calle Jarnkrok (LTIR), Max Pacioretty (LTIR), Max Domi (IR), David Kampf (LTIR), and Ryan Reaves (suspended). Therefore, the Leafs needed to call up a few players from the minors. Toronto made the move to sign Alexander Nylander to an NHL contract.
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— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 22, 2024
Nylander Signs NHL Contract
Toronto signed Nylander to an NHL contract for one year at $775K. Nylander wouldn’t have been eligible for a standard call-up like the Leafs have done with others earlier in the month because he was signed in the offseason to an AHL contract. However, with this NHL contract, he won’t be able to be sent back down to the minors without being waived. The 26-year-old will have the chance to play with his older brother William Nylander for the first time in their careers. There’s a lot of opportunity on this Leafs team with all the injuries. It’s tough to predict the lineup for Sunday’s game, given all the missing key pieces. Maybe Alex could be on the same line as William.
General manager Brad Treliving and head coach Craig Berube had no choice but to make this decision. Toronto have already made three call-ups from their AHL affiliate the Toronto Marlies. They recalled Alex Steeves, who leads the Marlies in scoring, Fraser Minten and Nikita Grebenkin. Minten and Grebenkin both made their season debuts in Toronto’s win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. Furthermore, Minten scored his first NHL goal and now has more tallies than Domi and equals Nicholas Robertson and Pontus Holmberg.
While the Leafs staff may not have had any other choice to call Nylander and give him this contract, he’d earned it. Alex has scored eight goals for 12 points in 14 games in the American League. He’s among the top 10 goalscorers in the AHL at the time of signing his new contract. Not to mention, he was great in the NHL last season in a short stint with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Main Photo Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
