Penguins forward prospect Alex Nylander ready to claim an NHL role

Ron Hextall doesn’t usually offer much in the way of details in how he might change his team.

But he did pull back the curtain a bit Friday when holding court with media in Cranberry.

The Pittsburgh Penguins general manager named a few players he might add to this NHL roster.

And one stood out, at least based on name value.

He’s a first-round pick.

Additionally, he was selected as an All-Star last month.

And he already has set career highs across the board on offense with 23 goals and 47 points in only 51 games.

All it would cost the Penguins to bring him to Pittsburgh would be a tank of gas to drive in from the Poconos.

Forward Alex Nylander is having himself quite a season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League, and it could lead to him getting another crack at the NHL before this season is over.

On Friday, Hextall labeled a handful of AHL Penguins forwards such as Nylander, Valtteri Puustinen, Filip Hallander and Jonathan Gruden as prospects in the system who have impressed. And they all have attributes that stand out for one reason or the other.

But Nylander is the only one of the group who was a first-round pick (No. 8 overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 2016). And as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s leading scorer, he represented that team in February’s AHL All-Star Classic.

The son of former NHL forward Michael Nylander and the younger brother of Maple Leafs star forward William Nylander, Alex Nylander was grateful for Hextall’s praise.

“Obviously, that’s always really nice and happy to hear,” Nylander said via video conference Saturday. “I’ve been working really hard now down here throughout the season, and I’ve had a really good year. That shows that I’ve been doing good work. I’m obviously happy that he’s seen it and that he’s said those things. Now, I’ve just got to keep going, keep working the way I’m doing and getting better every day. Hopefully, I get a shot (with the NHL club) sometime soon here.”

The NHL isn’t a foreign concept to Nylander. He played 19 unremarkable games with the malfunctioning Buffalo Sabres over the course of three seasons before being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2019 offseason.

Spending the entire 2019-20 season in the Windy City, Nylander appeared 65 games and scored 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists).

After the “bubble” playoffs in August of 2020, Nylander underwent surgery on his left knee and missed the entire pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.

Opening the 2021-22 campaign with Rockford of the AHL, Nylander informally requested a trade.

Hextall, fond of Nylander from scouting him during his days as the Philadelphia Flyers general manager, swooped in and sent reserve forward Sam Lafferty to the Blackhawks for Nylander during early January 2022.

In the 13-plus months since, Nylander has put in the necessary work to rebuild his game and add the defensive components necessary to reach the NHL.

“He came with — I don’t know if you want to call it baggage — but a bit of a reputation,” Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach J.D. Forrest said. “He was a high pick with a lot of offensive talent that wasn’t maybe meeting the expectations. A lot of times, they’re extremely high when you’re a first-round pick. Sometimes, they can be unrealistic. When he came to us, he had a couple of injuries, he wasn’t playing consistent hockey over the course of a couple of seasons and he was just trying to find his game.

“Offensively, you could see it right away. He knew the areas that he needed to work in and commit to were going to be more away from the puck. His abilities are going to be there, and he’s always going to be dangerous. But he also has to be dependable and reliable in certain situations and play situational hockey throughout a game. We’ve seen him take a lot of steps in that. We’ve seen him be more engaged in each and every shift as far as willing to be in a battle, wall play, tracking back, knowing his responsibilities defensively. He’s aware of that, and he’s certainly worked at it.”

Nylander is fully aware that skill alone won’t get him back into the NHL.

“I’ve just been more harder to play against,” Nylander said. “Really getting into the battles with and without the puck. Just making those important plays, chipping them out, whatever it may be. Just being good defensively, focusing a lot on that this year. It’s been really helping me. It’s been helping our line get to the (offensive) zone too. … Just going into every game, trying to win every thing and getting those important pucks out and obviously, at the same time, trying to make plays when I can.”

The skill is there. It never really left the 24-year-old. His 12 power-play goals are the second-best total in the AHL through Tuesday. And as of late, he has been particularly productive with 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) over his past 15 games.

“It all starts when I move my feet,” Nylander said. “That’s the biggest thing. I’ve been skating and moving my feet. I’ve had a really good, probably, two months now. I just start with moving my feet. It all starts there. Then, I’m more engaged in the battles. I’m having the puck more on my stick, and that’s when I know where offense comes in and I just do my offensive kind of thing. … All that kind of stuff has been coming together. Just happy with the way I’ve been playing and want to keep it up.”

It remains to be seen when or if Nylander will be up with the NHL Penguins. He certainly has some competition within Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s forward ranks for a potential recall. And some personnel moves at a much higher level still have to play out for the NHL club as Friday’s trade deadline approaches.

But it’s clear Nylander is in a much better position to carve out an NHL role than when he first joined the organization 13 months ago.

“If you have any type of history where people label you, it takes you a while to shed it,” Forrest said. “He’s done his best — in particular this season — to shed a lot of that history that was kind of following him, whether that was justified or not. He’s done a good job of changing the discourse on him.”

Nylander is ready to change more than that.

“My goal is to get to the NHL and stay there,” he said. “That’s been my goal since I was drafted. Get to the NHL and obviously stay in the NHL. And be the player that I am this year up there (in the NHL) as well. I know that can come.

“I know it’s been a little bit later for me than most people. … I took a couple of steps back but now, I think I’m back. Obviously, I know more stuff and how to play this game. I just want to get to the NHL and stay there and be the player I know I can be up there.”