As someone who started assessing prospects in the 2018–19 season, Nicholas Robertson was one of my favourite prospects from the draft class. The diminutive forward put up a point a game in the OHL in his draft season with the Peterborough Petes, en route to being selected 59th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Robertson’s tenure with Toronto has been marred with injuries, inconsistent ice time and a COVID-shortened season. It all came to a head this offseason when the American forward requested to be traded by the Leafs, citing his unhappiness with ice time and his treatment by the organization.
Robertson’s unhappiness with the Leafs wasn’t completely unwarranted. He’d never gotten into more than 15 games in a season with Toronto until last year (partly due to his health) and even when he got extended runs, it felt like he had the shortest leash out of all the Leafs players and rarely saw the ice.
The good
At Robertson’s best, he’s an engine of a line offensively, carrying the puck in with confidence in transition and using his instincts and lethal release to find the back of the net. He’s also shown a ton of effort, especially this season, on the forecheck, willing to fight to win puck battles and drive to dangerous areas of the ice. This especially has allowed him to lead the Leafs in drawn penalties this year.
He’s a useful player with a skillset the Leafs sorely lack in the bottom six, but unfortunately, whether it’s luck or just a lack of chemistry between him and his linemates, Robertson has failed to provide Toronto with the secondary scoring they were looking for from him heading into the season.
The not so good
Robertson tries hard out there, but unfortunately at 5’9″ there will be unsurmountable shortcomings to his game. He’s not particularly strong on the puck, he can lose puck battles easily, and he’s generally easy to push around.
I love how willing he is to get the dirty areas of the ice and find space in the trapezoid to get scoring opportunities, but like years past it feels like the puck is always bouncing on him. He’s had some of the best chances in these last few games but whether it’s one move too many, or a mishandle, or a puck bouncing over his stick, he just can’t get that release off.
It’s hard for Robertson to carve out a consistent role on this Leafs lineup with the emergence of the Pacioretty, Tavares, and Nylander line. For now, he lines up alongside some rotation of Max Domi, Bobby McMann and Pontus Holmberg, but with Calle Jarnkrok and Connor Dewar due to return in the next few weeks, Robertson may be running out of time to establish his spot in the line up.
Robertson’s fit
Toronto’s top six seems locked down after this recent stretch of games. Matthew Knies has finally seemed to click with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner after struggling in that role for much of last season. Pacioretty and Tavares have instantly clicked on that second line alongside Nylander. The fourth line almost seems to be a given with a rotation of some form between Holmberg, Dewar, Kampf, Reaves and Lorentz.
With Domi playing his best hockey at center in an offensive-minded role, there could be a bit for Robertson on his line with a McMann or Jarnkrok to balance out the defensive responsibilities, but between Robertson’s lack of contact balance and Domi’s less-than-suffocating effort on the forecheck, that group doesn’t feel like a Berube style line.
If anything, a group of McMann, Domi, and Jarnkrok might fit Berube’s taste better, with Jarnkrok’s balanced, swiss army knife ability and speed being a nice compliment to McMann’s power forward style of play and Domi’s facilitating role.
The reality
Unfortunately, the reality is that at some point the Leafs will need to remove three roster spots from their roster when Hakanpaa, Dewar and Jarnkrok return. Matt Benning is likely the odd man out on defence as the Leafs look to move him, and Philippe Myers seems like an insignificant loss if lost on waivers. That leaves a forward to be cut.
Craig Berube seems to love Pontus Holmberg, giving him chance after chance despite the young Swedish center struggling at multiple points this season. Bobby McMann also fits Berube’s profile of being a fast, and hard forechecking style of power forward. Unfortunately, the odd man out appears to be between Robertson and Reaves at this point, and as much as I’d love to be wrong, I don’t foresee the Leafs sending the big enforcer down to the Marlies.
Potential trade spots?
It feels like Robertson’s time may be coming to a close, but there should be many teams willing to give the struggling goal-scoring winger a chance.
Colorado immediately pops out as a potential option after losing a myriad of their depth scoring to the IR to start the season.
Dallas stands out too, as a potential opportunity to play with his brother Jason and also provide fellow youngster Wyatt Johnston with a linemate not named Jamie Benn.
The Flyers are a potential fit as well, as he fits their timeline and they are in desperate need of more generation offensively, but I have a hard time seeing Robertson flourish under a coach like Tortorella.
Conclusion
All in all, the Nick Robertson experiment has been wholly frustrating for all parties involved. While it appears his time with the Leafs may inevitably be coming to a close in the near future, the young energetic forward with a goal scorer’s touch has more than enough skills to make it at the NHL level.
For Toronto, it will be about maximizing his value to make a bigger trade down the road to round out some gaps as the Leafs continue to chase that ever-elusive Stanley Cup.
