Nick Robertson
Another player that the Leafs had some high expectations heading into the 2024-25 NHL season was the play of young forward Nick Robertson. Coming off a solid campaign in which he posted 14 goals and 27 points in his first full season with Toronto during 2023-24, Robertson was poised for a breakout season this year. Especially after putting together a strong training camp in which he led all Leafs players with five preseason goals.
However, Robertson would struggle for the most part once the regular season began. For those that expected him to take his game to another level, much like how Matthew Knies has evolved into an unstoppable force for the Leafs this year, Robertson would manage to surpass his career high in goals with 15, but would regress to just 22 points in 69 games played this season. As a result, he had to work hard towards the end of the year just to earn a chance to be on the Leafs playoff roster.
However, Robertson failed to take full advantage of his opportunity and was benched following two ineffective games against the Senators. Whether he will get another chance before the series is over is another question. But we could be seeing the last of Robertson if he doesn’t manage to convince the Leafs’ brass of his value soon enough.
Max Domi
Signed to a huge four-year, $15 million contract following a solid 2023-24 campaign in his first year with the Leafs. Max Domi was expected to raise his game and become a significant contributor behind the “core four” going forward for Toronto. They believed that his versatility could make him either a strong second-line winger to complement John Tavares, or anchor the third line to provide solid secondary scoring for the team.
But it turned out that Domi struggled to maintain his effectiveness in both roles, forcing Leafs head coach Craig Berube to often try out different combinations with him to see what could click. In the end, the 30-year-old forward’s numbers actually declined from last season, from 47 points in 80 games down to just 33 points in 74 games this year.
More worrisome has been the fact that other than his clutch overtime winner in Game 2 of the series, the impact of Domi during these playoffs had been mostly unnoticeable, making his term ans value of his contract starting to look like quite the anchor for the organization. Therefore, if the Leafs bow out early, forcing major changes to take place this upcoming offseason, look for Toronto to potentially try and move Domi and his contract off the books.