For the second straight day, William Nylander played in a familiar spot at practice on Friday, instead of continuing the experimental move to center.
The 28-year-old skated on the right wing alongside Tavares at center and Max Domi on the left wing. The same trio skated together — in an identical format — during Thursday's practice inside Ford Performance Centre.
That could signal that the Nylander experiment at-center could be coming to a close.
"I got him out there with Johnny and Max right now. I told Willy just keep banging away at it, keep working on it, keep taking reps in practice," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said when asked if he's leaning towards starting Nylander on the wing in the regular season.
"It's a work in progress. And, I'll say it again, right now, he needs to keep working on face-offs and keep working on positioning of a centerman because it's a very good option."
The Nylander at-center situation has been fascinating to follow during Maple Leafs training camp. A similar circumstance occurred last year with then-head coach Sheldon Keefe attempting to slot Nylander in the middle.
That plan didn't even see the regular season.
It appears as though we might see the same scenario happen this year.
However, as Berube has stated on previous occasions, and more seriously on Friday, this move isn't going to happen quickly.
"Yeah, there's a lot of times there's a lot of good things I like about it. But right now, this is where I got the line set right now. Today. Not tomorrow, today."
The head coach didn't entirely close the door on the experiment either, adding that this isn't a subject he wants to discuss daily.
"I might," he said after being asked if he would put Nylander back in the middle.
"It takes time. It's not just going to happen overnight. I don't know. I don't think we need to talk about it anymore, to be honest with you."
As Nylander has stated, you can't just throw him into the position once and hope it works. It needs to be a regular process so that he can get fully acquainted with the position, which he and Berube agreed on.
"I'm excited. I think that I told Chief (Berube), the most important thing is I can't just play one game if you want to try [me] at center," Nylander said on the opening day of training camp. "We agree on that and we'll give it a go and hopefully it goes well."
The 28-year-old played one game at center and was supposed to play his second game there, before leaving after taking a knee to the head on Sept. 26 against the Montreal Canadiens.
Since then, he's skated both in the middle and on the wing, with the last two practices being on the right side. So, with that being said, why not give him more reps at center, if that's what you want in the long term?
"Well, he's had a lot of reps. He takes reps every day in practice," Berube said on Friday. "The one game he was playing, he left the game early, right? And he hasn't played a game since."
The Maple Leafs will play one final pre-season game at home on Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings. By the looks of things right now, Nylander will play on Tavares' wing, instead of in the middle.
As the forward continues to flip-flop between positions, the positive is that he can be versatile whenever the player is needed at center.
"I think the versatility is good to be able to go [to center] if I need to go there for a shift or two and then go to the wing for a shift or two — to be able to do that is just important," Nylander said on Monday.
