Report: William Nylander's Maple Leafs hopes on hold due to concussion

By foxsports
Published

When Toronto Maple Leafs prospect William Nylander suffered an injury at the World Junior Championship in December, it was unclear how severe the injury truly was. Swedish team doctors initially told reporters Nylander had a chance of returning during the tournament, but those hopes never came to fruition. 

A recent report from SportsNet now claims Nylander will be out at least until after the All-Star Break with a concussion and would therefore not be able to join the Maple Leafs until February. The original hope within the Maple Leafs organization seemed to be that Nylander would have a strong tournament with Team Sweden in Finland and move up to the NHL upon his return to North America.

Via The Score:

Nylander was having a great season in the AHL before leaving for the World Junior Championship, as he led the league in scoring at the time with 34 points (14 goals, 20 assists) in 27 games. The 19-year-old was selected eighth overall by the Maple Leafs in the 2014 NHL Draft. 

He was injured on a hit to the head by Switzerland's Chris Egli. The 19-year-old Egli was subsequently suspended for three games by the IIHF disciplinary panel for the hit.