CALGARY—If it’s Calgary in 2017, it must be . . . let’s see . . . William Nylander’s turn to experience life in a relative slump. One goal in 17 games, albeit on 40 shots, which if it continued would make him a less dangerous scorer than, say, Roman Polak. Still, if they don’t go in, they’re not going in. Maybe it’s Nylander’s turn to go through a slump because Mitch Marner already did it, and Auston Matthews got his out of the way in his rookie season. They are three of the most successful young players in hockey, but what that really means is that they still play hockey.

“I’m actually a believer that it happens every year no matter what you do,” says defenceman Morgan Rielly, the day before the Leafs began their three-game swing through Western Canada. “It’s just part of life. Whether you’re a player or the team, it’s just going to happen. And I’m OK with that.”

That’s a very Zen place to be, but Rielly’s season in 2016-17 — plus, perhaps, his ascension this season — helped him achieve it. But it’s not necessarily an easy place to reach. When Matthews went through his 13-game goalless streak in his rookie year, he used the same idea that Leafs president Brendan Shanahan used to tell himself when he was slumping during his Hall of Fame career: You’re still getting chances, you’re still getting shots on goal, and it will come.

When Marner slumped to start the year, he was put on the fourth line, where Matt Martin took it upon himself to pump up the 20-year-old. Marner has sterling puck possession numbers — the Leafs have controlled 55.9 per cent of shot attempts with him on the ice, best of any player who has played at least five games — but the 10 points in his last 11 games felt better.

“Definitely,” Marner said. “I mean, stuff happens that you kind of lose confidence with yourself, and the great thing about this sport is you have teammates around you who build that back up for you and make you feel like you still have that playing ability and that confidence inside you, and they try to pull it out of you. That’s a special thing about this game.”

His biggest previous slump was in his draft year in London; Marner thinks he went 10 or 11 pointless games, and the play kept scoring the other way. He got a weekend off and went home, saw family, hung out with childhood friends. He let himself miss playing. His game came back.

Marner has been one of the most talented players in the rink for his entire life, and says that even now, his confidence can still go up and down.

“I think for me, and for players you’ve got to understand areas of the ice you’ve got to get to, and I think that’s what a lot of skill coaches are trying to help identify now,” says defenceman Connor Carrick. “Like, guys, when you’re going good, this is how you’re receiving passes, and you’re flying towards the middle, and this and that. You have to learn to fabricate confidence, you have to learn to play without it. It’s a fleeting thing. Confidence can be mood-like. It changes. And if you only play well when you’re super confident, that’s going to be a tough go for you.”

So now, Nylander, who briefly saw the fourth line Saturday night. His turn, until it isn’t.

“I’ve come to the conclusion where you have a great start, and then you’ll have a couple days where you don’t feel great, and then you’ll get back to normal at some point,“ says Rielly. “And I think it’s important to learn from that. It teaches you to work hard. You’re not going to change yourself, you’re not going to get out of the slump by whining, or being negative. You just keep pushing and getting better and working hard.

“It’s not just sports, it’s school, it’s relationships, it happens. There were times earlier in the year where I got a point on a goal where I didn’t really do anything, and I felt like I played pretty well in Florida and I hit the post three times.”

One thing to remember in all this is how preposterously lucky the Leafs are to have so many young stars that they get to take turns digging out of their relative slowdowns. Since 2005-06, among players before their age-21 season, they are eighth (Matthews), 17th (Marner) and 20th (Nylander) in points per game. They’ll be fine.

That being said, though Rielly considers himself a bit of a mentor for Toronto’s three young kings, he hasn’t talked a lot about on-ice struggles. Instead, he believes you support them off the ice by not treating them any different. You take them for dinner, make jokes, avoid hockey. The same way Marner escaped his slump back in London, basically, in miniature.

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“I saw a Marshawn Lynch interview about it, and basically, there’s a fine line between being overbearing and trying to do it,” said Rielly. “They’re all mature young men. They can figure it out themselves, and you kind of have to let them do it themselves. Marshawn’s a wise, wise man.”

Figure out hockey by not thinking about hockey. See the puck, be the puck. And don’t worry about it, because better days are going to come.

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