Tuesday, January 28, 2025, 9:35PM |  41°
MENU
Advertisement
Pittsburgh Penguins' Alex Nylander, left, carries the puck up ice as Columbus Blue Jackets' Adam Boqvist defends during the first period of a preseason NHL hockey game Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, in Columbus, Ohio.
1
MORE

After tumultuous journey, former lottery pick Alex Nylander confident he's found his game in Penguins system

AP

After tumultuous journey, former lottery pick Alex Nylander confident he's found his game in Penguins system

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Alex Nylander didn’t think much of some nagging pain in his left knee.

The former No. 8 overall pick by the Buffalo Sabres was riding high, fresh off his first full NHL season during the 2019-20 campaign. After an offseason trade from Buffalo to Chicago, he’d played in a career-high 65 games for the Blackhawks and set personal bests for goals (10) and assists (16).

Though he was held scoreless in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, Nylander was poised to take on a more prominent role the following season.

Advertisement

“I was going to get to play a lot and really show my potential,” Nylander told the Post-Gazette. “My first year in Chicago, I really got into it at the end there and had that full year of experience with me going into that [second] year.”

Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (71) fights New York Islanders left wing Ross Johnston (32) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023.
Matt Vensel
Saving their worst for last? Penguins looking to clean up mounting third-period mistakes

After the playoffs, though, he figured he should get his left knee checked out. An MRI revealed a partial tear in a meniscus in his left knee, but the injury wasn’t clearly identified until months later.

Nylander could’ve done surgery with a recovery time of four to six weeks, but he and the Blackhawks held off, hoping what they thought was a minor injury would heal in time for training camp.

Now a healthy member of Pittsburgh’s top minor-league affiliate, the American Hockey League’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Nylander is experiencing the best season of his career. He’s got a team-leading 21 goals and 22 assists in just 48 games.

Advertisement

But the taxing path the 24-year-old forward took to settle — for the time being — in the Northeast corner of the Keystone State was hardly an enviable one.

Family ties

Nylander’s birthplace indicates he was destined for a lifetime of hockey. His father, Michael, was playing for the Flames back in 1998, which meant Alex was born in Calgary on March 2 of that year. The Swedish forward who crafted out a 15-year NHL career would often bring Alex, as well as his older brother and current Toronto Maple Leafs forward, William, to the rink during their formative years.

“We loved it.” Alex said. “Obviously, just seeing him, we went to all his games, we just kind of grew into it. We played other sports, too, but nothing was as good as hockey growing up.”

New York Islanders left wing Anders Lee (27) scores a goal against Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry (35) during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023.
Joe Starkey
Joe Starkey: Tristan Jarry owes the Penguins. Time to pay up

Alex and William each excelled in their youth hockey days, which earned the latter a No. 8 overall selection, too, in the 2014 NHL draft. William spent parts of the next two campaigns with the Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate, the Marlies.

In William’s second season, he was anything but far away from his brother; Alex played the 2015-16 campaign for the nearby Mississauga Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League. Not to mention, Michael was one of the Steelheads’ assistant coaches, so all three Nylanders once again lived under the same roof.

“That worked out unbelievably,” Alex said. “That was a really fun year in the OHL. I loved it, it was great.”

But the trio’s shared tenure in the same household only lasted for so long. Soon enough, William got the call to Toronto’s NHL squad and Alex was off to Upstate New York to play for the Sabres’ AHL team, the Rochester Americans.

On his own

In his first season of NHL-affiliated hockey, Alex was a ½-point per game player, logging 28 in 65 games. But being thrown to the wolves with grown men running aplenty in the AHL came with its growing pains for an 18-year-old Alex. He registered a minus-24 plus/minus, the worst of any player on the Americans that season.

“I was so young there, looking back at it,” Alex said. “I was 18 and I was the youngest in the league. A little bit different, tougher hockey than I was used to. My first year, looking back, probably could have gone to Sweden or played one more year in the OHL because I was so young.”

Even so, Alex earned a promotion to the NHL a month after his 19th birthday and played four games with the Sabres at the tail end of the 2016-17 season. He chipped in the first assist of his career during that quick stint and netted NHL goal No. 1 a year later during another cup of coffee in the big leagues.

Alex got a bit more run in the 2018-19 campaign, but after three seasons in the Sabres’ organization, he had just three goals and as many assists in 19 games to show for his efforts. After that third season with the club, Buffalo decided to move off Alex and dealt him to the Blackhawks for another former first-rounder in Henri Jokiharju.

The change of scenery paved the way for something of a breakout season for Alex. His first year in Chicago a success, Alex figured he’d found a home. Or so he thought.

Long road back

Alex can rattle off the number of days he missed — 460 — like it’s his birthdate. What’s fuzzier for Alex is how exactly he tore a meniscus in his left knee. Details about the time after his injury are abundantly clear to him, though.

At the end of 2020, with Blackhawks training camp for the next season nearing, the pain in Alex’s knee hadn’t gone away — it had worsened. Another MRI revealed a larger tear and Alex faced a new recovery time of four to six months.

While he was able to bypass going under the knife after his first MRI, there was no way around the inevitable the second time around.

“It couldn’t have come at a worse time, that injury,” Alex said. “It was just really unfortunate, missed that whole COVID season year ... that was tough. That was tough for me that I missed that season.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on normalities of day-to-day life across the globe, so, too, was Alex’s rehab process impacted. After having his surgery done in Minnesota, he lived in a hotel near U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the NFL’s Vikings, to rehab. Alex then shuffled back and forth between the Twin Cities and Chicago for checkups before he decided he’d had enough.

“Living in that hotel by myself, I was going nuts after being there for three months,” Alex said. “It was terrible. I was like, ‘I’ve got to get out of here.’”

So in the spring of 2021, Alex packed his belongings, trekked back to the familiar surroundings of Toronto and moved in with William and Maple Leafs teammate Rasmus Sandin for the next two months.

“That was so much fun. My brother, he had an unreal place, too, so that was fun,” Alex said. “That helped a lot with my mental state. I was kind of losing it there a little at the end in Minnesota.”

But while Alex’s career was on pause and rehab was his main focus, William was in a much different spot. The budding Maple Leafs star was coming off his first 30-goal season in the NHL.

“It was lots of fun having him there and hanging out with him every day for a couple of months. It was fun that way, but at the same time, I felt bad for him,” William told the Post-Gazette. “But, he was grinding through and staying on top of his rehab here in Toronto. So that was a fun thing that he was able to do, to rehab over in Toronto. It was a good time.”

Seven long months later, Alex was cleared by the Blackhawks to return in time for the 2021-22 season. Instead of suiting up in Chicago, though, Alex went back down to the AHL to play for the Rockford IceHogs, roughly 90 miles to the northwest of the Windy City.

“I thought he would come back and Chicago would give him a chance to play in the lineup,” William said. “When that happened, that’s when I felt bad for him because, obviously, players get injured and they come back and they play again.

“When he came back and they didn’t play him, that was kind of a riling time for me.”

Alex struggled to return to form in the minors, posting a minus-10 that was third-worst on the team despite playing in just 23 games.

“It was the game that was so different, just getting used to holding onto the puck, having that confidence again and knowing that player you are,” Alex said. “That was tough there my first two months in Rockford.”

He didn’t have much time to improve upon that craggy start in Rockford, nor did he get another shot in Chicago.

On the move

On Jan. 5, 2022, Alex was traded once again, this time to Pittsburgh for the Penguins’ Sam Lafferty. He was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and started to feel more like himself upon his arrival. In 44 games last season, he had 30 points on 14 goals and 16 assists.

“I really got my game back in the second half when I got traded here. Obviously, missing 460 days before last year, it was weird coming into the games,” Nylander said. “It was so different. I felt like I missed five years.”

Alex is now in his second season with the Baby Penguins, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach J.D. Forrest has challenged him to focus on other aspects of his game besides scoring. So far, it’s paid off: Alex was selected to the 2023 AHL All-Star classic, and he’s boasting his best plus/minus since the 2018-19 season with the Americans.

“He’s just paid more attention to play away from the puck and on the defensive side of things and kind of the not-so-pretty areas of the game,” Forrest told the Post-Gazette. “We know he has skill, we know he can score, we know he can produce. But we want to make sure he’s taking care of the defensive side of things. He’s coming back hard on pucks. He’s not someone that’s going to be easily knocked off in a battle.”

After a 3-2 loss to the Springfield Thunderbirds on Feb. 1, Forrest remarked that he’s seen Alex deliver more hits on opponents in the last two months than in all of the 2021-22 campaign. The 200-foot game Alex has been playing is no doubt more demanding, but he’s glad to reap the benefits that come with a more physical and defensive-minded style of play.

“My offensive game has even gone up to the next level,” Alex said. “Really holding the puck and trying to make good plays in the O-zone, shooting. Everything has kind of just become better and better here. Every game, I’m just keeping it the same.”

But the sharpshooter is still providing plenty of attention to his offense. He’s the first on the ice a half hour before an optional late-January practice, diligently working on his stick-handling by himself at Toyota SportsPlex, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s practice facility.

After that practice, Alex lets out a noticeable sigh of relief before providing an assessment of his season thus far.

“I feel great. I feel like my game has really gone to the next level now,” Alex said. “I’m really happy about that and the way I’m playing right now. It’s awesome.”

What’s next

The former lottery pick has tasted NHL time with two other franchises and isn’t shy about wanting to return for a third go-around with his current club. He also understands there are factors out of his control, like the Penguins’ top six being set in stone and that there are other players who have to be prioritized on the bottom six for myriad reasons.

Still, Alex can take solace in the fact that for the first time in a while, he’s both healthy and contributing in the manner that he expects of himself.

“This is kind of how I imagined I was going to play when I was 18, 19, 20,” Alex said. “If I was like this a little earlier, it would’ve been obviously nicer, would have helped and I would have obviously been up playing in the NHL. I got there when I was in Chicago, it was just that injury that was a really tough one for me.

“But, other than that, I’m just really happy with the way I’m playing and, obviously, the goal, I really want to get back to the NHL and I know I can play there and be there. So I’ve just got to keep working and grinding every day here and show them that I belong up there.”

Alex has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise bleak farm system that before the 2022-23 campaign was ranked 30th out of the NHL’s 32 teams by The Athletic. Penguins fans clamoring for general manager Ron Hextall to make a trade should perhaps turn their attention to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and plead for Alex to get a promotion.

At least, that’s what William is hopeful for after everything his younger brother has endured.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind — I think that he should be [in the NHL], especially the way he came out and has been playing this year,” William said. “I think he’s earned a chance to play.”

Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and Twitter @AndrewDestin1.

First Published: February 22, 2023, 10:30 a.m.

RELATED
New York Islanders left wing Anders Lee (27) scores a goal against Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry (35) during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023.
Andrew Destin
Penguins’ Tristan Jarry showed signs of rust, but he's eager to return to form for stretch run
Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (71) fights New York Islanders left wing Ross Johnston (32) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023.
Ron Cook
Ron Cook: Despite yet another loss Penguins show signs of life
New York Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield (24) checks Pitsburgh Penguins left wing Jake Guentzel (59) into the bench during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023.
Matt Vensel
Penguins blow another third-period lead to Islanders, fall out of playoff position
SHOW COMMENTS (6)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Access by Pennsylvania and other states to online systems that manage federal-state initiatives like Medicaid, CareerLink and Head Start was shut down on Tuesday, apparently as the result of a memo issued Monday night by the Trump administration, Gov. Josh Shapiro said Tuesday afternoon.
1
news
Shapiro says Pa. can't access Medicaid, other program portals because of federal funding freeze
Pittsburgh Steelers owner Arthur J. Rooney II looks on prior to the NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Philadelphia.
2
sports
Jason Mackey: Art Rooney II's reasoning for keeping Mike Tomlin as Steelers coach feels misguided
Kansas City Royals' Adam Frazier waits to take batting practice before a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Houston.
3
sports
Adam Frazier returns to Pirates on 1-year, major league deal
Tensions in Charleroi, PA, intensified after President-elect Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance made controversial remarks about the town's Haitian community, alleging that they were financially draining local resources.
4
news
Fear and anxiety ripple through Western Pa. communities amid immigration crackdown
Van Jefferson #11 of the Pittsburgh Steelers celebrates with Calvin Austin III #19 after making a catch for a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens during the second half of the AFC Wild Card Playoff game at M&T Bank Stadium on January 11, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland.
5
sports
Ray Fittipaldo's Steelers chat transcript: 01.28.25
Pittsburgh Penguins' Alex Nylander, left, carries the puck up ice as Columbus Blue Jackets' Adam Boqvist defends during the first period of a preseason NHL hockey game Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, in Columbus, Ohio.  (AP)
AP
Advertisement
LATEST sports
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story