Article content continued

Their other similarity, of course, is that both are expected to be a part of the future of the Maple Leafs franchise. How soon they will be adorned in full Maple Leafs attire during the regular season remains to be seen.

Read more…[/np_storybar]

“On the ice, he likes to pass the puck,” Alex Nylander said of his father. “So I always got the puck if I got to play with him.”

And as a coach?

Alex Nylander, who had just finished an hour-and-a-half practice with the Mississauga Steelheads that featured some old-fashioned sprints and energy-sapping battle drills, smiled. A moment ago, Michael Nylander was in earshot.

“I guess he’s very good at both.”

That Alex Nylander is in a position to even compare the two roles is quite remarkable. After all, Alex was only 11 years old when his father left the NHL after playing 920 games for seven different teams. And yet, one year after oldest son William played with his dad in Sweden, the 43-year-old Michael Nylander suited up for one game with his youngest son last season.

“It was a fluke,” said Michael, who is now an assistant coach with the OHL’s Steelheads. “I happened to be in Sweden and the team I played for wanted to bring him up from junior because he was playing really well. It’s not so common and it’s not that easy, because we’re lots of years apart.

“That he got good at the same age where I can still play, it’s nothing that I ever thought that would happen.”