Why Mississauga Steelheads drafting William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs top pick, isn’t that outlandish

The shock Toronto Maple Leafs fans felt when William Nylander was drafted over Ontario-bred bruiser Nick Ritchie is nothing compared to them learning there is an Ontario Hockey League in their area.

Sorry/not sorry, had to. The stunner of the first round of the CHL import draft is, at first blush, the Mississauga Steelheads taking a stab in the dark by selecting Nylander, who on Friday pulled on another blue-and-white jersey when the Leafs selected him No. 8 overall.

The key phrase is "at first blush." Nylander, of course, wants to make the Maple Leafs, but his alternatives are very up in the air.

At both the NHL combine and after he was drafted by Toronto, the 18-year-old Nylander clarified that he does not have a contract for next season in the Swedish Hockey League. The budding young star had a rather itinerant draft season, gracing the lineups of no fewer than six different teams (every possible team except Sweden's entry in the world junior championship, or so it seems).

A landing point is constantly in flux with an 18-year-old skill player whose ascension to the NHL just seems to be a matter of when he is physically mature enough to sustain success in the pros. Nylander, who is listed at 5-foot-11 and a slight-ish 169 pounds, might be a long shot to land a full-time job with the Leafs. The club has an option to start him out with its AHL farm team, the Toronto Marlies, but typically the only teens toiling in the top minor pro league are not 18-year-olds earmarked as future top-6 forwards; they're more apt to be defencemen or future third-line role players.

That could leave the OHL as a way station for Nylander, who has some familiarity with North American hockey after spending his formative years on this side of the pond while his father, Michael Nylander, was a NHLer. First-round NHL picks always have something to learn about — engage the hockey cliché generator — becoming a leader or improving the play of their teammates. Plenty of top 10 picks have returned to major junior for a season or two and benefited.

That is the hockey part of the equation. The Steelheads also averaged fewer than 2,600 fans in the Hershey Centre last season, which was Year 2 of owner Elliott Kerr's three-year commitment to getting a foothold in Mississauga. There might not be anything that could push the needle for the OHL in a Leaf town, but this is worth a stab in the dark for Mississauga. The worst that happens is they have the same nucleus they had when dawn broke on Wednesday.

For what it is worth, Team Sweden is in the Toronto group for the world junior championship round-robin. Most ticket packages have already sold.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.