The Toronto Maple Leafs and winger Nick Robertson recently avoided the always-risky arbitration process by settling on a new one-year, $1.825 million extension. Which, while positive, hardly solves the problem.
It started in the Kyle Dubas era and continues today with the Trevliving/Berube tandem: the botched, inexcusable handling of potential sniper Nicholas Robertson.
Yes, we know Robertson’s professional career got off to a rocky start due to several injury-related roadblocks. And yes, it’s true, there’s nothing unusual about spending time in the AHL to adapt to the speed, size, and strength challenges pro hockey presents.
But as the saying goes: “Let the singers sing and the dancers dance.”
And yet, not once, since Robertson became a full-time NHLer in 2023, has he been granted a long-term opportunity to audition as a top-six winger. Not once. Oh sure, a little taste here, some second-power-play-unit minutes there—but you would think a team that has been unable to settle on their top-six wingers for more than two years would at least be curious to see if the answer (Robertson) is staring them in the face.
The kid is a natural goal scorer, a finisher, and a potential game-breaker. His incredible release and wicked velocity have made many an NHL goalie look rather ordinary. When team captain Auston Matthews was asked if he shares shooting techniques with Robertson, he replied, “I can’t really teach him anything because I think he shoots it harder than anyone on the team.”
How odd then that Robertson has spent most of his time at the NHL level grinding away as a bottom-six forward, where ice time is limited and the focus is on defending, “getting pucks deep,” and defending some more.
From The Hockey Writers: “Robertson put up 15 goals and 22 points in 69 games this past season, which doesn’t look too bad at first glance. But when you dig into it, it’s clear he was never really given a long leash. No playoff time, limited minutes, and Berube’s decisions that more or less said, ‘Yeah, you can play in the NHL, but you’re far from a core guy.’ There was virtually no chance for Robertson to show his stuff in the team’s top six. He didn’t garner enough trust from the coaching staff.”
From Editor in Leaf: “For each of those two seasons, he has predominantly played a third- or fourth-line role, while occasionally missing games as a healthy scratch. He has yet to earn an extended run with similarly skilled, offensive players among the team’s top two lines. Robertson’s floor is a continuation of the last two seasons, playing within the bottom-six forwards and netting somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen goals. His ceiling is earning a job within the top two lines, playing with the team’s top players, and possibly scoring twenty to twenty-five goals.”
From TSN’s OverDrive: “For Nick Robertson, year in and year out, he’s on the sidelines. You gotta put a sticker on him like ‘I am the guy.’ I wonder if he’s on the team opening night. I know he’s been a healthy scratch, and every time he comes back he scores a goal—a funny novelty we make jokes about—but this guy needs a better opportunity. It’s not happening with the Leafs. He doesn’t fit the identity in the bottom six. They are getting bigger—you saw the guys they brought in. They need to give him a bigger opportunity, but it’s not with the Maple Leafs. Some teams should be interested and at least kick the tires on him. He’s only what? 23? 24?”
Multiple other sources, including The Athletic, Sportsnet, and The Leafs Nation, have criticized Toronto’s handling of Robertson’s development as too conservative, arguing he hasn’t been given the same patience or rope as other high-upside prospects.
It’s not as if there haven’t been hints that Robertson is worth a look. What sets him apart is his ability to finish at 13.4%—well above expectations—indicating excellent placement, timing, or just strong finishing skill.
Instead, the Leafs handed Pontus Holmberg extended top-six minutes—including in the playoffs. Yes, that Pontus Holmberg: 159 NHL games, 19 goals. The same Pontus Holmberg they let walk away as a free agent earlier this summer.
It was only a year ago that Robertson, seeing what many of us were seeing, requested a trade. It’s clear the Maple Leafs were—and are—reluctant to send their still-developing forward elsewhere, fearing what a subsequent breakout season would say about their decision-making process.
Here’s some free advice for the Maple Leafs: You don’t have to let another team demonstrate what Robertson is capable of. You can—finally, once and for all—find out for yourself. It’s easy to do. Just play him.
