The Toronto Maple Leafs are working their way through the preseason as they try to finalize their opening-night roster for the 2024-25 season, and fans continue to watch the potential future of their team with prospects showcasing themselves in a big way. While the preseason is often a chance to see how some youngsters fare against greater competition, it also gives the veterans a chance to get their feet wet and touch up some small parts of their game before the regular season.
However, there was an incident in a recent preseason game that led to William Nylander going down with a minor injury after Nicholas Robertson pushed him with his stick to give him a boost for a puck battle. Since Nylander wasn’t ready for it, he fell and collided with a Montreal Canadiens player. He seemed to be okay, and the injury wasn’t something he needed to deal with long-term, but it still worried Maple Leafs fans. He mentioned the incident never led to any issues in the room or between himself and Robertson, but he made it known he didn’t believe the push was needed.
Maple Leafs fans went through a major injury scare a couple of seasons ago when John Tavares had a freak accident and ended up unconscious on the ice in one of the most awkward injury situations ever seen in the NHL. As he seemed to be trying to get up on his own after colliding with two players, he lost consciousness as the medical staff attempted to bring him to his feet, freaking out commentators, former general manager Kyle Dubas, and fans as Tavares began to fall backward with his body seemingly limp.
Tavares ended up being okay, but seeing Nylander go down and get hit in the head by another player in what was another freak accident had to remind some fans of the Tavares incident. Thankfully, both Nylander and Tavares ended up being okay in each of their respective accidents.