The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by members of the Die By The Blade community. six writers and 718 readers ranked players under the age of 25 as of September 1, 2018 in the Buffalo Sabres organization. Each participant used their own metric of current ability and production against future projection to rank each player. Now, we’ll count down each of the 25 players ranked.
Another day of the top 25 under 25 rankings and another Swede to discuss. After another rough season, Alex Nylander doesn’t crack the top 10 and comes in at #11. The 2016 first-round pick is a polarizing prospect for the Sabres.
Some have soured on the idea of Nylander becoming an impactful player and some people point out how is development path hasn’t been handled properly to this point. He has the talent and is only 20-years-old. However, there are some areas that need to change in his game in order for the skilled winger to make it in the NHL.
The start of last season put Nylander behind the eight ball. He suffered a lower-body injury during the Prospects Challenge that was first described as minor. Nylander ended up missing the first month and a half of the season. It’s plausible the injury held him back over the first few months of the season and resulted in his slow start.
He started to produce better during the second half of the season which resulted in him getting a call up to join the Sabres for three games at the end of season. Nylander ended up scoring his first career NHL goal during that stretch.
The kids are alright. Nylander and Guhle team up for Alex’s first NHL goal pic.twitter.com/kzLSj96Ohb
— Ben Mathewson (@Ben_Mathewson) April 7, 2018
This upcoming season is important for Nylander. It’s year three in the AHL and he needs to start showing some signs of having the potential that surrounded him when he was drafted. Nylander will be one of the handful of players that we’ll keep close on during training camp and throughout the season if he plays with the Amerks again.