HELSINKI—It is becoming the Mystery of William Nylander.

In a strange turn of events, the Swedish hockey team called a news conference and then, at the last second, cancelled the get-together in which Nylander was supposed to address his health and continued participation at the world junior hockey championship.

The bottom line is Nylander is officially day-to-day with the team hoping he will return to the tournament soon.

But it was a befuddling journey to get them to say as much, although the Maple Leafs may have had something to do with it. Swedish news outlet Expressen said Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello called both the Swedish federation and Nylander and urged them to say nothing.

Lamoriello, whose Leafs are secretive when it comes to their own injured players, offered no comment on the report other than to say through a spokesman “the club has an excellent relationship with the Swedish Federation. We’re in constant communication with them throughout this process.”

Nylander is out with a suspected concussion — the team won’t confirm it’s a concussion — as the result of a hit to the head in their tourney opener. He has been spotted at his hotel having lunch.

The Maple Leafs top prospect seemed fine and reportedly has been exercising. But he did not skate Thursday as expected, leading to speculation he’d had a setback.

“The meeting with William Nylander is cancelled due to a decision by Swedish team management,” said spokesman Anders Feltenmark, after the media assembled in a hotel meeting room. “Team management has decided it’s not suitable. I’m sorry (the cancellation) comes this late, but sometimes things happen.”

Swedish team doctor Per Adolf Bergsten was made available but didn’t shed much additional light on the situation, declining to discuss Nylander’s symptoms.

“He’s feeling fine, but we made a late decision about him not attending this media conference,” Bergsten said. “It’s more about the attention. We called this press conference to clear things up a bit but we decided late that . . . we would like to protect him a bit.”

Bergsten didn’t say what they were protecting him from; Bergsten restated the team hoped he would play in the tournament.

“We will take it day-to-day and see how he progresses with his rehabilitation.”

The earliest Nylander could be expected is Saturday in the quarter-finals. There is no question the Swedish team — one of the best here — would be better with him. He got a goal and an assist in the first period of the opener before his injury. It was expected when the Leafs loaned him to Sweden that Nylander would dominate the tournament.

Bergsten said the Leafs fully support the Swedish medical decisions on Nylander.

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“They have the same approach as us — that is if he is able to play, he will play, but that must be at 100 per cent,” said Bergsten. “I’ve always said hopefully he will play again in this tournament and obviously there is still that hope. He has to move slowly forward.”

Lamoriello is expected in Finland on Friday.

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