It was a serial that never really wanted to end last fall.

But finally, after many over and over, William Nylander agreed with Toronto on a new agreement. With only minutes left to the deadline, the Swede signed a six-year contract with the classic NHL club worth SEK 62 million a year.

By that time, December 1, "Lill-Nyllet" had already missed one preseason and two months of the basic series in North America - and when he was ready to play he was barely recognizable.

The score was low with only one goal in the first 23 games and Nylander was subsequently moved down to the fourth chain.

Will silence doubters

For the coming season, the idea is that the ice hockey world should relive that player who has previously been a points machine in both Toronto and the Three Kronor national team.

- I know what I'm capable of. We'll see during the season, the 23-year-old says to Canadian TV channel TSN and adds that the time to silence all doubters has arrived.

- I have to change their perception and play at the level I know I can play.

Last year's face was a modest seven goals and 20 assists in 54 basic series matches, plus one more goal and two scoring passes in the playoffs.

Fun with Babcock

During the current preseason, Nylander has been welcomed back to the same chain as the team's big star Auston Matthews - and the American likes to notice a new trend with his Swedish teammate.

"You can definitely see hunger and motivation in his attitude and self-confidence," Auston Matthews told TSN.

- He was a confident person right from the start, but since he has been at this summer's training camp this year, he looks really good out there on the ice and it seems that he is extremely hungry.

Even the team's coach Mike Babcock believes in a clear improvement for Nylander compared to last season, and he thinks he knows why:

- I joked with him before and said, "It must be nice to be back with a weight of around 88 kilos instead of about 2,500 that you had last year when you carried the whole weight of the earth on your shoulders," he tells TSN .

The NHL season kicks off again on October 2 when Toronto premieres in Ottawa.