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NHL insider shares latest on 'weird' William Nylander injury.
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NHL insider shares latest on 'weird' William Nylander injury.

An NHL insider has shared his insight into the mysterious injury that has sidelined William Nylander.

Jonathan Larivee

The Toronto Maple Leafs are just hours away from Game 2 of their opening round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Boston Bruins but, in spite of the game being so close, there still remains a tremendous amount of mystery regarding the injury to Maple Leafs forward William Nylander.

In spite of the fact that he played every single game during the regular season, Nylander suddenly found himself dealing with a mysterious ailment just days before Game 1. Nylander would be forced to sit on the sidelines for Game 1 and there remain serious questions about whether or not he will suit up for Game 2.

On Monday, National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman shared some insight into the Nylander injury. The insider began by detailing how he believes the Maple Leafs were genuinely unaware of any issues with Nylander until just days before the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"Here's why it's weird," said Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast. "The thing that's weird about it for me is Toronto was resting guys who were hurt. Late in the year they did not care about where they finished, they were saying we are starting guys healthy. Domi rested, Edmundson rested, even Rielly got games off, so I don't see any chance that if they would have known anything was wrong with Nylander that he would have played cause he says 'Oh I'm going for 100 points' I just don't see that.

"There's no way that they're letting Nylander play if they think anything is wrong with him."

The insider would go on to add that he believes the sudden and very unexpected nature of this injury really threw the team off, and when you consider the fact that Nylander hadn't missed a game due to injury in over 8 years it's not hard to see why.

So where does that leave his status for Game 2?

"I have heard that he is more likely to play in Game 2 than he was in Game 1," said Friedman.

Friedman ended his thoughts on the Nylander situation with a rather cryptic statement, one that suggests the insider may know more but isn't comfortable sharing it at this time.

"This is weird," admitted Friedman. "To me this whole thing is weird and I'm just curious to see where it all plays out. I have theories, but I just don't believe at this time of year you should guess on injuries unless you absolutely 1 billion percent know what they are."