William Nylander has been out since January 15th when he left the game against the Knights and former teammate Mitch Marner. Nylander scored his 17th goal this season to put them up by 2 before leaving the ice. He returned shortly at the start of the second frame, he was seen skating around but ultimately decided he wasn't good to go and the Leafs ultimately lost 6-5 in overtime, and Willy hasn't hit the ice again since.
During Sunday's home game against the top team in the league-the Colorado Avalanche the Leafs were down and the camera's pointed to the press box of Leafs who were out with injuries, Dakota Mermis, Dakota Joshua, Chris Tanev and Nylander. When the camera hit Nylander, he gave a quick smirk and 'flipped the bird'.
After the game Nylander took his Instgram stories to apologize (post can be seen on Sportsnet's Instragam now). He stated that it was a 'moment of frustration' and he 'didn't mean to upset anyone'.
Although his apology was too late as the NHL's player safety board didn't seem to take this as enough and announced yesterday that Nylander was hit with a $5,000 fine for his gesture, the maximum amount allowed under the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement . George Parros who serves as the Vice President of the Player's Safety department explained that the NHL's code of conduct 'extends throughout the arena' as well as 'in public game situations'.
Many fans took to social's debating if Nylander was just trying to be funny, arguing the situation was not as deep as most made it out to be, while other's believe it was an immature act. Plenty of fans also pointed out a pretty hypocritical situation, as back in April of 2025 after the Utah Mammoth were eliminated from playoff contention, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev was seen walking down the tunnel after the game, and gave the middle finger to the camera pointing at him. Sergachev was never fined nor was any fuss really made of it due to no consequences coming from it until Nylander's gesture brought it back up.
Nylander's fines go towards the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund, which is set to ensure those who have to retire from the league due to injury, players struggling with mental health, etc. are taken care of after their time in the NHL.
Nylander is targeting to return at some point on the Leafs 4 game road-trip that kicks off January 29th in Seattle.