No. 1: Nick Robertson
It feels like you’re either a huge Nick Robertson believer or the opposite right now.
You either think he’s going to score 30 goals or he’ll be an injury-prone prospect stuck on the Marlies. For this experiment, let’s be optimistic about everything and assume he’s the goal-scoring prospect that many dreamed he would be.
We haven’t seen Robertson in a full 82-game season yet and we also haven’t seen him have a long stretch with really good players. Instead, his minutes have been limited and he’s played in more of a bottom-six role.
He put up really solid numbers and something like a 2% shooting-percentage in a brief audition last year, but was a star in the AHL, scoring a point per game and scoring a very solid 16 times in 28 games.
Robertson is a top-six player and needs to play with skilled players. If everything goes well, he could be the best option for the team’s top-six left-wing position this year and he could very well be a strong candidate to win Rookie of the Year, but unfortunately, since he played more than six games in the last two seasons, he doesn’t qualify as a rookie.
He is 20 years old and played 16 NHL games, so that is a pretty dumb rule, especially considering the 25 year old Michael Bunting was a nominee last ye4ar.
If he can stay healthy, Nick Robertson will be a very good NHL player.