Michael agreed.
“It was quite amazing,” he said. “We would go to practice together, we were roommates a few times. We were linemates on the ice, father and son off it. You never dream that you’ll one day actually be playing on the same line with your son.”
By 2016, William was playing for the Maple Leafs, who selected him with the No. 8 pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, and Alex, a forward like his brother, was playing for Rochester, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres, who selected him with the No. 8 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.
In order to watch both of his sons play, Michael would set up a TV on one side and a laptop on the other at his family’s home in Sweden well after midnight.
“They still do that,” William said with a laugh.
Besides the chance to return home and play in front of family, this week has an added significance for Nylander.
A student of the game, Nylander is more than aware of the impact the late Borje Salming had in opening the doors to the NHL for Swedish players when he joined the Maple Leafs in 1973 for the start of what would be a Hall of Fame career.
In honor of that, the NHL Alumni Association created the Borje Salming Courage Award, which will be awarded to Detroit Red Wings Hall of Fame defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom on Thursday.
Nylander said he remembers one memorable meeting with Salming in Sweden.
“We were just going from one bar to the next bar, and he was walking somewhere, too, and we ran into each other,” Nylander recalled. “I don’t know, it was like one or two in the morning and he’s like, ‘Let’s go to this place.’ And then we went to that place.
“I mean, he went all night. It was special. He was a very special guy and he would always take care of all the other Swedes.”
This time around, it will be Nylander’s job to take care of his Maple Leafs teammates and show them around.
“I guess ‘Willie’ will be our tour guide,” Tavares said.
“Whatever happens, it’s going to be fun.”
