William Nylander can't stop running into Leafs fans while on vacation
William Nylander doesn’t seem all that phased by the pressure of playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the worldwide recognition that comes with it.
Speaking to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek for the latest edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast on location in Stockholm as part of the NHL’s European Media Tour, Nylander opened up about some of the run-ins he’s had with fans over the course of the offseason.
Friedman shared a few of Nylander’s comments on his contract situation yesterday — and while there’s nowhere else he’d rather play but Toronto, he’s letting his agent and the Leafs’ management do the talking. Nylander has one year left on a six-year deal originally signed in 2018 but could hit unrestricted free agency for the first time next summer.
But in addition to a couple of questions about his contract that mostly featured canned answers, Nylander did open up about why he’s such a big fan of playing in Toronto.
“You could go anywhere and you got fans in the stands. I think that’s that’s the coolest thing about it,” Nylander said. “I’ve been on vacation… here in Europe, there are people walking around with Toronto stuff on, and you’re like, that’s insane.”
Nylander’s vacations this summer have taken him back to his home country of Sweden, the French Open in Paris, and, it seems, a chance encounter with a Leafs fan at a burger chain in Spain.
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“I was at Five Guys in Barcelona, just standing in there waiting for the burger and just some guy comes up to me is like, ‘hey, huge fan. Me and my wife are here.’ Pretty crazy,” Nylander said, adding that he snapped a picture with the couple.
Nylander had his best season yet with Toronto this past year, putting up 40 goals and 47 assists in 82 games. Over the course of his eight seasons with the team, he has 177 goals and 253 assists across 521 games.
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