If only he could turn back time on the hair, too, but never mind that. If you know that shooting is partly luck, then you know William Nylander had no good luck on the Leafs last year and lots of it for Sweden at the world championships.

If you believe in lucky numbers, you’ll know why he’s making the switch.

Back in 2017, Mike Babcock noticed how well Nylander played against his old friend and wearer of #88, David Pastrnak:

Head coach Mike Babcock has certainly taken notice. “Well, I actually considered buying one of those toys with 88 (Pastrnak’s number) and putting it in Nylander’s stall and taking it on the road so he’ll think he’s playing him every night,” the coach said. “Obviously, they’re friends and they want to be good against one another and Willy’s played great against him so we expect Willy to have a big game tonight.” Nylander’s hat trick against Boston marked the start of a blistering 21-game run for the Swede who has scored eight times and registered 12 assists in that stretch.

He won’t have to resort to that sort of chirping anymore, he’ll just be able to yell out the number for a line change whenever he likes.

Why #88 in the first place?

“A lot of people think it’s for Patrick Kane. He’s a great player. I love watching him,” said Nylander. “But when it came to picking numbers (in Sweden) I wanted 92 because my father wore that. But I was playing with my dad, so I chose 88 because my brother (Alex) wore it growing up.”

Let’s look at how the fans are reacting to this news! (That’s how this is done right, you just throw in some free content tweets, and go...)

Empty Calories