It's been five days short of a month since William Nylander was injured in his very first World Junior Competition match against Switzerland. The hit to Nylander was a blind-side one by Chris Egli, who appeared to impact the side of Nylander's head with his arm. Egli was suspended for three games following the hit, and rejoined the Swiss team -- who successfully staved off relegation in their last game of the tournament.
Nylander, however, was never able to rejoin team Sweden at the WJC. Since returning to Toronto, Nylander has been absent from the Marlies. When asked about Nylander returning to the lineup, Kyle Dubas told Leafs Lunch that his health situation placed his return date "on hold."
He’s incurred an injury which we are going to be extremely cautious with and most conservative with in terms of his clearance to return to play. We need to follow the steps in a very conservative matter, and make sure he is absolutely 100% healthy and not at any undue risk when he returns. Especially in his case as a young player, there’s not going to be any type of pushing to come back sooner or earlier. He’s 19 years old, he’s got a lot of runway in front of him in terms of his potential and his career, and the onus is on us to do what’s right for any player that is injured that is that young. (Source)
Today, we finally have better news:
William Nylander is participating in a non-contact practice with the Marlies today. It's been almost a month since he was concussed. — Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) January 22, 2016Concussion protocol dictates that if Nylander shows any signs of a setback he'll slow down again, but here's crossing fingers that he'll make it through this next step.
