"Did this guy really assassinate one of the top four?": NHL fans react to William Nylander's apparent head injury owing to Nick Robertson's stick push

The Toronto Maple Leafs faced off against the Montreal Canadiens in a preseason game when an unfortunate collision occurred.

During the first period, William Nylander was skating past his teammate Nick Robertson when Robertson tried to give Nylander a push with his stick. However, this seemed to throw Nylander off balance and he collided with Canadiens forward Dvorak, hitting his head on Dvorak's knee.

Nylander immediately exited the game and went to the Maple Leafs' dressing room. The Maple Leafs later announced that Nylander would not return to the game for precautionary reasons after the collision.

Fans took to social media to react to Nylander's exit. One fan tweeted:

"Did this guy really just assassinate one of the core four after holding out all off season??"

Another fan wrote:

"For someone that was dealing with concussion problems during the playoffs. Definitely not what you want.." one fan wrote.

Here are some fan reactions:

"Robertson really wants that top 6 winger position." one fan wrote on X.

"Gotta love it from Robertson. Doing EVERYTHING he can out there to crack the leafs roster." another fan commented.

"In a f**king preseason game after a contract dispute. hoooooly" a user noted.

"People….Robertson was trying giving Nylander a speed boost to catch the guy ahead of him. This play happens often. Willy obviously didn’t expect it and fell. Bad luck." another user analysed.

The Maple Leafs ended up winning the preseason game 2-1 over the Canadiens.

After the game, Maple Leafs HC Craig Berube gave a positive update on Nylander's status.

"He'll be OK. He's fine. Nothing to worry about." Berube said.

For the next preseason matchup, the Maple Leafs will face the Canadiens again on Saturday.

William Nylander mistakenly names Maple Leafs' rivals in NHL goal horns quiz

William Nylander made a hilarious blunder during a recent NHL goal horn quiz with TSN's BarDown.

When played a mystery goal horn and given the clue "You hear this one the most," Nylander incorrectly guessed that it belonged to their rival Boston Bruins.

This led to laughs from teammates Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and Auston Matthews, who had all correctly identified the horn as belonging to the Leafs. Upon realizing his mistake, William Nylander broke into laughter. This lighthearted moment provided some funny content for fans ahead of the season.