Because of the contract stalemate, the Toronto Maple Leafs had to play the first two months of the season without one of their best players.
After he returned, Nylander wasn’t himself for about a month.
Starting in mid January, he actually put up very good numbers (led the Leafs in puck possession, led the NHL in on-ice scoring chances created per minute, and was fifth in individual scoring chances per minute) but was snakebitten in terms of his and his linemates shooting percentage. (All stats 5v5 naturalstattrick.com).
This led to a lot of unfair criticism.