Maple Leafs star William Nylander fined for obscene gesture

Toronto Maple Leafs star William Nylander flipped an expensive bird to a broadcast camera Sunday afternoon, garnering a fine from the NHL.

Nylander has recently been sidelined after aggravating a lower-body injury on Jan. 15 against the Vegas Golden Knights. And while watching the Leafs lose to the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 Sunday afternoon from a suite alongside the rest of his scratched teammates, Nylander smiled and flipped his middle finger when a TSN camera panned to the group.

Leafs players in the press box realized they were on the tv broadcast and William Nylander flipped the bird? 😭 pic.twitter.com/be70R2GuX0

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) January 25, 2026

Soon after, Nylander issued an apology on Instagram, writing, “Only love for leafs nation. sorry about my moment of frustration today! didn’t mean to upset anyone. looking forward to being back on the ice and not in the stands.”

And while speaking to reporters Monday, Nylander reaffirmed his apology by saying, “Sitting there I got a text message…I was like ‘oh, not a good idea. Not a good thing to do.’ So, I apologize about that.”

But the swift apologies weren’t enough to save Nylander from punishment. Monday afternoon, the NHL hit Nylander with a $5,000 fine for flaunting his middle finger on TV

“This serves as a reminder the code of conduct governing extends throughout the arena at NHL games and in public game situations,” NHL senior vice president of player safety George Parros said of the penalty.

TV broadcasts have caught hockey players saying worse on hot mics, and this isn’t the first time someone waved their middle finger to a camera. But unfortunately for Nylander, he was the one the NHL sought to make an example of.