1. Nick Robertson
Age: 21
Height/Weight: 5’9 183 lbs
Position: Left Wing
Shoots: Left
Draft: 2nd Round 53rd overall, 2020
This is the third straight year where we have listed Nick Robertson as the Toronto Maple Leafs top prospect.
This year, he gained 20 pounds, and would be a Calder favorite entering the new NHL season, if a) he qualified (he doesn’t) and b) he was guaranteed a job (he’s not).
There will be no Calder for Robertson, but who cares? He’s about to embark on what will be (injuries aside) a very long, very successful NHL career.
The reason he gets ranked ahead of Knies is that I have never seen Knies play in the NHL. I have seen Nick Robertson not only play in the NHL, but I’ve seen him look good while doing it.
Impressive as it was that he played four playoff games the year after being the youngest player in his draft, Robertson probably wasn’t NHL ready when he suited up for four games against Columbus, but the experience was probably amazing for his development.
If you can play four NHL playoff games, score a goal, and avoid embarrassing yourself when you’re just 18, that is extremely impressive, especially for a guy who wasn’t a top ten pick. What’s more impressive is that if he was just a few days younger, he would only have been drafted about a month before he played his first game.
Last season Robertson only played 10 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he posted a 52% puck possession rating, and an Expected Goals Rating of 49% (which was way over 50% when paired with Tavares).
Those are great numbers for a rookie playing nine minutes per night and alternating between a scoring line and the fourth line. He didn’t score, but the shooting percentage of Robertson and all players who played with him last season was 1.92% which is incredibly unlucky.
The underlying numbers are solid, and the AHL Numbers are spectacular. 16 goals and 28 points in 28 games is amazing production for an AHL rookie.
Additionally, every player in the OHL, since 1990, who scored like Robertson did at the age he did it at, has scored 40 goals in the NHL. Every player.
Nick Robertson will one day score 40 goals in the NHL, for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
He will be a star player, and he will most likely play left win on a line with Tavares and Nylander this season, as he graduates from the prospect zone. Nick Robertson was NHL ready last season (as shown by his excellent performance in the NHL) and this year he’ll finally get regular ice time on a scoring line.