Leafs William Nylander Leaves Game After Teammate Tried To Shuffleboard Him Up The Ice

There’s always a risk when you suit up in the preseason, but you usually don’t expect your teammate to push you over, headfirst into an opponent’s legs, but that’s exactly what happened to Toronto Maple Leafs star William Nylander.

The Leafs were hosting the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday evening and with just under 8 minutes left in the first period, the Habs defenseman Lane Hutson corralled the pucks and started moving up ice. Nylander did his best to backcheck, but he wasn’t catching Hutson unless he had rockets strapped to his feet.

But fear not, Leafs forward Nick Robertson had an idea.  

He took his stick and pushed Nylander like he was playing shuffleboard in Del Boca Vista.

Unfortunately, it went about as poorly as it possibly could have gone. Nylander hit the deck and slid headfirst into the legs of Montreal’s Christian Dvorak.

That’s a move you pull when you’re goofing around in beer league. It is probably not best to do it with one of your star players, especially when another one of the team’s stars — Auston Mathews — is out with injury already.

Nylander left the game — which the Leafs won 2-1 for their first win of the preseason — and the sight of him going down the tunnel had Leafs fans’ hearts in their throats.

However, after the game, head coach Craig Berube didn’t seem as concerned about the status of one of his top players.

It’s been a rough preseason. Teams are losing some key players for all kinds of reasons. Mathews was hurt in practice, Ducks goalie John Gibson will miss four to six weeks after undergoing an appendectomy, and Kings defenseman Drew Doughty looks like he’ll miss some substantial time with a fractured ankle sustained in a nasty fall earlier this week.

We’ll see if Nylander will be in playing shape for the Leafs’ season opener against the Canadiens on October 9.