The Toronto Maple Leafs obviously aren’t happy that Nick Robertson is out for the season, but it does make their decision about the trade deadline a lot easier.
With Robertson back, the Toronto Maple Leafs would have a second Bunting for their second first-line, and they would have that for the league minimum. But then what do you do with Calle Jarnkrok, who is playing well but doesn’t have the finish you’d like to see on the 2nd line.
A healthy Robertson is a volume shooter who never quits a play, and who has – in 15 games – a 53% scoring chance percentage, and a 56% dangerous chance percentage, not to mention that when paired with Tavares (95 minutes) they put up a solid 54% Xgoals rating.
He only had five points in 15 games, but his shooting percentage would have gone up and so would his scoring. Considering how infrequently he’s played lately, I thought he had a great start to this season and if he stayed healthy, there’s no doubt in my mind he would play LW on the second line and then the Leafs would be faced with the same problem they had earlier: forcing one of Engvall, Kerfoot or Jarnkrok to the fourth line, and disrupting the shut-down line.
I guess it was a good problem to have *(too many good players)* but with Robertson done, the decisions become easier.
With Robertson now done, and Calle Jarnkrok playing decent on the left side of the second line, the obvious way to fix this team is to move the shutdown 3rd line down into the fourth line, and get a third line that can score. (stats from naturalstattrick.com).
Toronto Maple Leafs Deadline Move Is Obvious
Teams with elite third line centres (think Pittsburgh when they had Jordan Stall or Nick Bonino on their Cup winning teams) are extremely hard to play against.
The Leafs current set up of having a no-event bottom six isn’t the best option in my opinion, because it relies too heavily on the top six to do all the scoring. It’s fine for now, but you know they don’t want to enter the playoffs that way.
Ideally, the Leafs trade for Bo Horvat because he is the perfect player for them. He can slot in at the 3rd line centre position, between Kerfoot and Knies/Steeves, and give the Leafs an amazing upgrade in their depth scoring.
When games get tight and the bench gets short, Horvat pops into the top six to spell Bunting and Jarnkrok and to create a super line.
Meanwhile, the Leafs could ice a fourth line of Aston-Reece/Kampf/ Engvall and use it much more liberally than other teams use their fourth line. Since Kampf doesn’t score, I think he’s much better on the fourth line.
In conclusion, Nick Robertson’s injury is a bad blow, and I feel bad for him, but it also clears the decks and gives the Leafs an obvious path to improvement. It’s time for the Leafs to move on Bo Horvat.