Alex Nylander was at his apartment in Wilkes-Barre on Friday taking his pregame nap.
He was resting after a whirlwind few days -- he was recalled to Pittsburgh on Tuesday morning after Mikael Granlund's illness and the birth of Bryan Rust's son left the Penguins short at forward. He made his Penguins debut that night against Columbus, a debut that was a success by all accounts. He stuck around for practice on Wednesday and the Penguins' morning skate on Thursday, but was sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton before the Penguins' game against the Islanders on Thursday. It was a move made largely due to severe roster and salary cap limitations, rather than an indictment of his play. He made the five-hour drive back across the state Thursday so he'd be back in Wilkes-Barre in time for Friday night's matchup against the division rival Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
"It's been a lot," Nylander said with a big grin when we chatted following the Penguins' 5-1 win over the Flyers on Saturday. "I go down there to get ready for the game, then in the middle of my nap they call me and tell me that I've gotta get back up here."
It's another emergency recall for Nylander, this time due to Nick Bonino's lacerated kidney suffered in Thursday's loss to the Islanders.
Nylander's first recall was expected to be brief, given the reasons that necessitated his recall and the constraints surrounding it. But this time around, it's looking like Nylander is going to be sticking around for a little while -- and in a much elevated role, at that.
Bonino is considered "week-to-week" right now, having been released from the hospital Saturday following a procedure on his kidney. If he's expected to be out until at least April 4 -- totally plausible, given the injury at hand -- then the Penguins can put him on long-term injured reserve and be able to afford to keep Nylander for as long as Bonino is out. Even if Bonino isn't expected to be out that long, there's a spot and cap space available to Nylander for as long as Ryan Poehling remains sidelined.
I asked Nylander if the feeling was any different when he got the call this time compared to earlier in the week, knowing now that his stay is definitely going to be longer than it was before.
"I didn't know at the time," Nylander said. "I didn't know until today, actually. It's unfortunate what happened to Bonino, but I know that I might stay here a little longer. I just have to keep going, keep working hard every day and be ready. Just play my best game."
The Penguins had to dress 11 forwards in Nylander's first game on Tuesday, so there was naturally some shuffling throughout. He started out deployed with Jeff Carter and Drew O'Connor, but was eventually shifted up to the second line alongside Evgeni Malkin and Jason Zucker, and played about 10 minutes with those two as the game went on.
Mike Sullivan evidently liked what he saw of that combination, because he stuck with it for Saturday's game against the Flyers. In the new reconfigured line combinations, Nylander was the new second-line right wing, shifting Bryan Rust up to the top line and moving Rickard Rakell to the third for some added balance on that line.
It was a huge show of confidence in Nylander, and he felt that.
"It's huge," he said. "It's crazy playing with those two guys. Legends. Malkin, I grew up watching him play. He and Zucker, they're helping me out a lot. It's making it easier to get in and get more comfortable. It's getting better, I think I just need some time to get my game going. But it's been good, keeping it simple and that kind of stuff."
Nylander's used to a top-six role in Wilkes-Barre, but the caliber of players is obviously a little different. Malkin's a step up from his rotating centers in Wilkes-Barre Tyler Sikua and Drake Caggiula to say the least, and Jason Zucker's no Lukas Svejkovsky or Filip Hallander. So while Nylander doesn't feel like he needs to change his game with his new linemates, it certainly makes things different for him.
"You just have to be more aware," he said. "They can pass to you wherever you are. You just have to be aware whenever they have the puck. Obviously I want to work hard and get the puck to them and get open, and if I play my game I think we'll connect good."
They connected pretty well in Saturday's win. In the 10:30 that Zucker, Malkin and Nylander were on the ice together at five-on-five, the Penguins recorded five unblocked shot attempts and allowed five -- the second-best ratio of any of the Penguins' forward lines. They were on the ice for four shots on goal and allowed two, tied with the top line for the best ratio of any line.
As a whole, Nylander's first two games have gone pretty well. He's recorded a total of 25:28 at five-on-five, and in that time the Penguins have outscored opponents 3-0, out-shot-attempted opponents 37-19, and recorded 76.1% of the expected goals.
PENGUINS
Alex Nylander in warmups Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.
What's been extremely noticeable is Nylander's attention to detail in the defensive zone. He's made some pretty good passes in these games to get out of his own end, but it's also the really little things, like in his second shift Saturday. The Flyers had possession in the Penguins' end, Nylander took a split second to check his surroundings, and then readjusted to a different spot on the ice to better defend a Flyer. Nothing extraordinary at all, but not something that would have been on his mind last season in Wilkes-Barre after he was acquired from Chicago in the Sam Lafferty trade. Putting up the points was never a problem, but coming into this season he knew that he needed an increased focus with his game away from the puck if he was going to ever get that call up to Pittsburgh.
Nylander knows that he needs to keep taking those steps forward -- and start producing offensively -- if he wants to solidify his spot in the NHL.
"Especially today, I think I need to get more shots," he said. "I had a couple of chances last game that I played. But today I just have to get more pucks to the net and create more chances like that. But we had some good O-zone shifts. I just have to hold onto the puck a little more than I've been doing and getting more shots to the net."
Sullivan has had effusive praise for Nylander's game in both of these recalls, and has pointed out the growth Nylander has made in his two-way game in the last year. When I asked Sullivan for his thoughts on Nylander's second game (and first full game as a second-line player), he said that he was "overly impressed" with what he's seen.
"I thought Alex played really well," Sullivan told me. "You can see his offensive instincts, he sees it pretty good out there, he can make plays. But I've just been impressed with his details away from the puck in his own end. He made some nice plays in the defensive zone. He's strong on pucks. I think he's really grown a lot there. He deserves a lot of credit for that in making that commitment. I think J.D. (Forrest) and his staff in Wilkes-Barre have done a great job helping him along the way. But in two games now, I've been overly impressed with his complete game. I think offensive instincts are obvious to all of us. That's where he excels, and it's hard to teach that aspect of the game. And he has it. I think he's making a commitment in valuing some of the other things in order to become a complete player, to become a regular player in this league.
"If Alex can bring that type of game consistently, I believe he's an NHL player."
