Sunday FTB: Willy's cooking for Grandma Nylander

This is a William Nylander appreciation post.

He's playing at a whole other level than we've seen from him, which was already pretty damn good. Starting the season with a 15 game point streak (10 goals, 12 assists), he entered last night tied for 4th in the NHL for total points and tied for 6th in goals.

After last night, Toronto travels to Sweden for two games against the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild. Willy will be bringing his hot cooking home to play in front of someone special.

William Nylander: Wearer of fashionable garbage bags. Traveler of the TTC. Wrecker of the NHL's shit. Good grandson.

We can't ask for anything more than that.

PROSPECT UPDATES

The weekend is always busy for following prospects, so here's some quick and fun tidbits.

Dennis Hildeby is another hot Swede right now. He has two straight shutouts and is looking like he's settling into the AHL nicely now.

Two other Marlies who have found some nice chemistry together recently are Dmitri Ovchinnikov and Kieffer Bellows. Ovchinnikov has scored four goals in the past two games, including a hat trick on Friday night. He has 5 points in 6 games this year, all of them coming the last two games.

Then there's Kieffer Bellows, an AHL signee by the Marlies who has been a bit of a bust as a former 19th overall pick from the Islanders that never figured it out in the NHL, but is finding a new home in Toronto. So far on the Marlies, he has 7 points in 5 games since joining his new team.

Easton Cowan has been doing Easton Cowan things, adding three points over two games on Friday and Saturday, including this slick shorthanded assist. He now has 24 points in 13 games in the OHL this year.

Nick Moldenhauer had a good game last night, adding this goal and an assist in a shootout win against rivals Minnesota.

Hudson Malinoski had an eventful game for Providence, who pulled off a two-game road sweep of conference rivals Northeastern. He added this powerplay goal, and then right after got a 5 minute kneeing major and game misconduct.

LINKS FROM THE BRANCHES

A recap from last night's nice win, with very entertaining developments... namely, the fourth line scoring twice and the team getting into multiple fights while Ryan Reaves was benched.

Maple Leafs beat the Canucks

I said the Canucks wouldn’t regress tonight. Boy, was I wrong.

PPP LeafsCathy Squires

Speaking of tough guys, Cathy wrote about the Nikita Zadorov rumours that have developed this weekend:

Shining a little light on Zadorov rumours

He’s big, that’s really all you need to know to pick a side in the hockey culture war.

PPP LeafsCathy Squires

More on other Flames players been talked about in trade sell offs, almost none of whom Toronto could realistically afford.

If the Flames begin a sell-off, what players should the Maple Leafs target in a trade?

The Flames boast three defenders, all pending UFAs, who look like fits for the Maple Leafs.

The AthleticJonas Siegel