<p>Barring any injuries, the Toronto Maple Leafs will have at least one player on each of the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters next month.</p>
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<p>Sweden&#8217;s lone Leafs representative, William Nylander, is no stranger to the national team program. While he hasn&#8217;t played often in recent years, with just one World Championship appearance in the past decade, he has always been a key contributor, no matter the event. He turned an 18-point effort in eight games at the 2019 World Championship into a level of confidence that saw him put up one of his best seasons at the time the following year. In all, Nylander has 37 points in 21 games with the men&#8217;s national team, which was highlighted by MVP honours – and, more importantly, a gold medal – back in 2017.</p>
<p>Nylander is one of the NHL&#8217;s most lethal wingers, and he&#8217;s on pace for a career-best 46 goals this season. So no question about it, Nylander should be one of Sweden&#8217;s most impactful players – and he&#8217;s looking forward to the experience.</p>
<p>&#8220;A lot of people (back in Sweden) are excited for it,&#8221; Nylander told the media on Wednesday ahead of the team&#8217;s game against the Minnesota Wild. &#8220;We&#8217;re still focusing on the games back home, and then we got a road trip. But once we get there, it will be a lot of fun.&#8221;</p>
<p>Nylander has never played in the Olympics and didn&#8217;t make the World Cup team back in 2016. So this will be Nylander&#8217;s first time getting to showcase his play in best-on-best senior men&#8217;s competition as he looks ahead to making Sweden&#8217;s Olympic team next winter.</p>
<p>Nylander will be joined by Canada&#8217;s Mitch Marner, USA&#8217;s Auston Matthews and Finland&#8217;s Jani Hakanpää. Defenseman Chris Tanev could end up being <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/why-chris-tanev-best-option-replace-alex-pietrangelo-4-nations-face-off-canada">Alex Pietrangelo&#8217;s replacement,</a> but there&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/ranking-team-canada-4-nations-face-off-replacements-alex-pietrangelo-weegar-doughty-bouchard-tanev">no shortage of quality candidates.</a> Hakanpää, meanwhile, has played just four games between the NHL and AHL this year and hasn&#8217;t suited up since mid-November.</p>
<p>He won&#8217;t have any NHL teammates on the roster, but Nylander will have plenty of high-quality options to play with. Notable names include Filip Forsberg, Lucas Raymond, Elias Pettersson, Mika Zibanejad, Leo Carlsson and Jesper Bratt – with Bratt specifically saying he wanted to <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/jesper-bratt-says-sweden-games-vs-finland-bring-out-a-little-extra-in-everyone">play alongside No. 88.</a></p>
<p>Nylander doesn&#8217;t have a lot of experience playing internationally with some of the Swedish forwards, but he&#8217;s definitely not complaining about the opportunity to have Victor Hedman feeding him passes from the point instead of going 1-on-1 against him.</p>
<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s one of the top defensive guys and power play guys in the league for a long time,&#8221; Nylander said. &#8220;That&#8217;ll be a lot of fun playing with him. The year we won the World Championship (2017), that was a lot of fun.&#8221;</p>
<p>Canada and the United States enter the tournament as favorites, but Sweden look dangerous. They&#8217;ve got arguably the best D-core in the tournament with Hedman, Rasmus Dahlin and Erik Karlsson, among others. They also have two of the NHL&#8217;s top 12 goal-scorers in Nylander and Adrian Kempe.</p>
<p>So discount the Swedes at your own peril – especially if Nylander is thriving, like he typically does when donning the Tre Kronor.</p>
<p>At the very least, Nylander wants bragging rights. Canada has won the past three international tournaments involving NHLers dating back to the 2010 Olympics. Sweden won gold in 2006, and silver in 2014. But for Nylander, this is a perfect opportunity to show just how dangerous the Swedes can be.</p>
<p>Beating his Leafs teammates will be nice. But winning gold, even in a new, one-off tourney? That&#8217;s all he wants – other than maybe a spirited bout with a close buddy.</p>
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<div class="css-175oi2r r-1s2bzr4">
<div id="id__zwukzzzv7q" class="css-146c3p1 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-1inkyih r-16dba41 r-bnwqim r-135wba7" dir="auto" lang="en" data-testid="tweetText"><span class="css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3">&#8220;I told (Auston Matthews) I might drop the gloves,&#8221; a laughing Nylander said.</span></div>
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Barring any injuries, the Toronto Maple Leafs will have at least one player on each of the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters next month.
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Sweden's lone Leafs representative, William Nylander, is no stranger to the national team program. While he hasn't played often in recent years, with just one World Championship appearance in the past decade, he has always been a key contributor, no matter the event. He turned an 18-point effort in eight games at the 2019 World Championship into a level of confidence that saw him put up one of his best seasons at the time the following year. In all, Nylander has 37 points in 21 games with the men's national team, which was highlighted by MVP honours – and, more importantly, a gold medal – back in 2017.

Nylander is one of the NHL's most lethal wingers, and he's on pace for a career-best 46 goals this season. So no question about it, Nylander should be one of Sweden's most impactful players – and he's looking forward to the experience.

"A lot of people (back in Sweden) are excited for it," Nylander told the media on Wednesday ahead of the team's game against the Minnesota Wild. "We're still focusing on the games back home, and then we got a road trip. But once we get there, it will be a lot of fun."

Nylander has never played in the Olympics and didn't make the World Cup team back in 2016. So this will be Nylander's first time getting to showcase his play in best-on-best senior men's competition as he looks ahead to making Sweden's Olympic team next winter.

Nylander will be joined by Canada's Mitch Marner, USA's Auston Matthews and Finland's Jani Hakanpää. Defenseman Chris Tanev could end up being <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/why-chris-tanev-best-option-replace-alex-pietrangelo-4-nations-face-off-canada">Alex Pietrangelo's replacement,</a> but there's <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/ranking-team-canada-4-nations-face-off-replacements-alex-pietrangelo-weegar-doughty-bouchard-tanev">no shortage of quality candidates.</a> Hakanpää, meanwhile, has played just four games between the NHL and AHL this year and hasn't suited up since mid-November.

He won't have any NHL teammates on the roster, but Nylander will have plenty of high-quality options to play with. Notable names include Filip Forsberg, Lucas Raymond, Elias Pettersson, Mika Zibanejad, Leo Carlsson and Jesper Bratt – with Bratt specifically saying he wanted to <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/jesper-bratt-says-sweden-games-vs-finland-bring-out-a-little-extra-in-everyone">play alongside No. 88.</a>

Nylander doesn't have a lot of experience playing internationally with some of the Swedish forwards, but he's definitely not complaining about the opportunity to have Victor Hedman feeding him passes from the point instead of going 1-on-1 against him.

"He's one of the top defensive guys and power play guys in the league for a long time," Nylander said. "That'll be a lot of fun playing with him. The year we won the World Championship (2017), that was a lot of fun."

Canada and the United States enter the tournament as favorites, but Sweden look dangerous. They've got arguably the best D-core in the tournament with Hedman, Rasmus Dahlin and Erik Karlsson, among others. They also have two of the NHL's top 12 goal-scorers in Nylander and Adrian Kempe.

So discount the Swedes at your own peril – especially if Nylander is thriving, like he typically does when donning the Tre Kronor.

At the very least, Nylander wants bragging rights. Canada has won the past three international tournaments involving NHLers dating back to the 2010 Olympics. Sweden won gold in 2006, and silver in 2014. But for Nylander, this is a perfect opportunity to show just how dangerous the Swedes can be.

Beating his Leafs teammates will be nice. But winning gold, even in a new, one-off tourney? That's all he wants – other than maybe a spirited bout with a close buddy.
<div class="css-175oi2r">
<div class="css-175oi2r r-1s2bzr4">
<div id="id__zwukzzzv7q" class="css-146c3p1 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-1inkyih r-16dba41 r-bnwqim r-135wba7" dir="auto" lang="en" data-testid="tweetText"><span class="css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3">"I told (Auston Matthews) I might drop the gloves," a laughing Nylander said.</span></div>
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Maple Leafs’ Nylander looking forward to chasing gold with Sweden at 4 Nations Face-Off

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