A LITTLE BIT OF NYSLANDER

Braedon Kane

The first comparison to talk to you guys about revolves around the team that I’ve analyzed a lot this season- the Toronto Maple Leafs. In this section, it will be explained to you why Michael Bunting has been more contributive to the Leaf's success this year than William Nylander.

Now listen, Nylander is an elite talent, don’t get me wrong, but he doesn’t impact the game as much as he should be. In my opinion, this needs to be talked about regularly especially when you have a guy like Michael Bunting who is having a huge impact on the team's games this year. Due to his much higher wins and goals above replacement, Bunting has been a much more effective player to the Buds every step of the way, but no one would call him the more talented player.

Now let’s quickly explain the meaning of goals above replacement and wins above replacement. Goals above replacement are the number of goals that you’ve helped create above the amount of someone that is a replacement-level player. For context, Michael Bunting this year has 24.8 goals above replacement while William Nylander only has 9.3. Now you might make the argument that Bunting's stats are only as good because of his linemates but that argument would be flawed, as although his linemates most likely inflate his stats, Bunting holds his own on the ice by drawing penalties and being a really good two-way player while allowing his linemates to be as good as they are.

The other part of this is that Michael Bunting has a much higher expected goals for per 60 than William Nylander while also having a much lower expected goals against per 60. Now to quickly explain expected goals for and against per 60 it’s pretty simple. Basically, this metric just takes your impact from the minutes you have played (every minor and major play) and then gives it a number. As a player, you want your expected goals for to be high and your expected goals against to be low.

According to those metrics not only has Bunting been better than Nylander on the offensive end, but he’s also been considerably better on the defensive end as well. Now the one major thing with analytics is that it doesn’t always mean one player is better than the other. Majority of the time, it outlines how one player has been more impactful to their respective team than the opposing player. So this year Michael Bunting has been a more important part of the Leafs winning games than William Nylander but obviously, Nylander is the more talented player as you can tell by just watching the two players on the ice.

The basic point here is that talent doesn’t always mean you are the most effective on the ice and you have to make sure you’re doing other things to help your team. Lately, Michael Bunting has been doing more things to help the Toronto Maple Leafs succeed than William Nylander and the statistics stabilize this theory.

So is William Nylander the better player? That’s unclear with Bunting being a lot better at utilizing his game which allows him to be more effective. Now if Nylander is put in a better situation with a stronger line that fits his playstyle, the Swede would most likely succeed but right now the Leafs are better off with Michael Bunting in the lineup than William Nylander. At the end of the day, you want a player that’s been more crucial to your team winning than the one that sometimes is hurting your team on a nightly basis.