William Nylander sets Leafs record with 9-game point streak to begin season

Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander set a franchise record during Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings by recording a point in a ninth consecutive game to begin the season.

Nylander was awarded an assist on John Tavares’ power-play goal in the third period. He was originally left off the scoresheet, with the assists initially credited to Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly. After a correction, Toronto’s star forward received the secondary assist on Toronto’s lone goal.

It was generally a night to forget for Toronto but the lone bright spot was Nylander surpassing Frank Mahovlich (1961-62), Lanny McDonald (1976-77) and John Anderson (1982-83) to break the record.

Nylander has arguably been Toronto’s best player to start the year, sitting second on the team with six goals and a team-leading 13 points through nine games. The 27-year-old has been a shot-creation machine and is currently ranked third in the league with 27 shots at 5-on-5.

Nylander is slated to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season but it’s widely believed he will remain with the Maple Leafs. Throughout training camp, Nylander stated multiple times that his intention is to remain with Toronto but he’s ultimately leaving the discussions up to his agent, Lewis Gross.

Setting a franchise record is one way to improve your position in contract negotiations and though the Maple Leafs will certainly want to burn Tuesday’s tape, there was a small silver lining in defeat.