Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Nick Robertson has a ton of potential, but he can’t be looked at as the savior for their left-wing problems.
Drafted 53rd overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs took a chance on a small young winger, with a ton of skill. After being a point-per-game player in his draft year, his stock sky-rocketed. One year after being drafted, he turned into a goal-per-game player, scoring 55 goals and registering 86 points in 46 OHL games.
The hype was real and Leafs fans across the world were overjoyed that he would soon wear the blue-and-white on a nightly basis. Not only was everyone pumped about his skill, but his Entry Level Contract was just as important.
If Robertson could make a legit difference on his ELC, it would free up a lot of cap-space to help bolster the roster in different areas.
Since that magical season two years ago, the pandemic and injuries have halted Robertson’s development. Many expected him to be a full-time NHLer by now, but because of those reasons, he’s yet to crack the line-up on a regular basis.
Toronto Maple Leafs Can’t Count on Nick Robertson
The soon-to-be 21-year-old will more than likely start the season in the AHL and use this season as another developmental year. However, it’s also a possibility that he plays in the Leafs top-six beside John Tavares and William Nylander because the team currently has a slot available.
In 16 career games, Robertson has one goal and one assist. Although that’s not all his fault because he’s been stuck in the bottom-six, it’s a true reality of the difference between the AHL and the NHL.
After scoring 16 goals in 26 AHL games last with the Marlies, many people are hyping up Robertson as the perfect fit in the team’s top-six. They’re comparing him to his brother Jason Robertson, because he plays the same position and just had a breakout season scoring 41 goals with the Dallas Stars last year.
However, there’s a huge difference between Jason and Nick.
Jason is 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, while Nick is 5-foot-9, 165 pounds. Size isn’t as important in the AHL, but it means a ton in the NHL Sure, it’s possible to succeed at the NHL-level, despite being undersized (just ask Patrick Kane), but it takes a special player to do it consistently.
And as of right now, we don’t know if Nick is up to that challenge yet.
Brendan Leipsic (5-foot-9, 175 pounds) and Jeremy Bracco (5-foot-8, 180 pounds) are two recent Leafs prospects who many valued highly, but they both fizzled out. Although they were great contributors in the AHL, their game never transitioned to the NHL at a high-level.
Leipsic played 187 career NHL games, but he only scored 16 goals in that timeframe (stats: hockeydb.com). He scored more goals in one season in the AHL than he did in six campaigns in the NHL, so you can see the difference.
Bracco, who scored 79 points in 72 AHL games in the 2018-19 season, will more than likely never even play a game in the NHL, despite being such a strong contributor in the AHL.
I’m not suggesting that Robertson will never play a game in the NHL or become an AHL journey-man, but we need to limit our expectations with the youngster right now. I have much more hope in Matthew Knies than Robertson, based on his size alone, so it’ll be interesting to see which player has the better career.
Hopefully Robertson can prove that his size isn’t an issue this year, but for anyone expecting him to be a 20-30 goal-scorer next year needs to give thier head a shake.