Kevin Bieksa sounds off on William Nylander's relationship with Leafs head coach Craig Berube
On Saturday former NHL player Kevin Bieksa shared his thoughts on the working relationship between William Nylander & Maple Leafs new head coach Craig Berube.
Nylander who has seen his ice time reduced this season has been vocal about wanting more minutes on the ice. Bieksa sees the open communication between Nylander and Berube as a positive.
This season, Nylander has been scoring consistently, leading the team with eight goals across nine games, but his average ice time hasn't returned to last year's level when he scored a career-high 98 points with 19:55 minutes per game.
Nylander has expressed that more ice time would benefit his performance.
In response Berube explained his focus on balancing the team rather than individual ice time.
Nylander went scoreless in the Leafs' recent 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues, finishing with a minus-three rating. Toronto initially led 1-0 after Mitch Marner's early goal but St. Louis took control in the second period with goals from Colton Parayko & Jordan Kyrou. Despite Steven Lorentz narrowing the gap to 3-2 in the third Pavel Buchnevich's empty net goal sealed the Blues win.
