Nick Robertson is 23-years-old and the role that he currently has with the Toronto Maple Leafs is totally fine.
Why are we obssesed with Nick Robertson becoming a top-line winger with the Toronto Maple Leafs when there's no reason to force it? With Max Pacrioretty out of the line-up for the next few weeks, many people are looking at Robertson to fill the void beside John Tavares and William Nylander.
However, what if he just stays in the bottom six and continues to outperform the opponent he plays every night?
Sure the numbers aren't where many of us expected they would be, but maybe Robertson isn't that future 30-goal NHLer we thought. Or, maybe he is, but it's going to take a while. Remember, he's just 23 and has never been given an extended shot playing with any of the Leafs stars.
Robertson has only played 101 NHL games at this point. He has 18 goals and 35 points, so it's not like he's been lighting the lamp, but based on his ice-time, I think it's safe to say he's a legitimate NHLer. So instead of looking at players making 3-5 times the amount of money that he makes to replace him, why don't we just continue to let him play on the third line and see what happens?
Robertson is playing perfectly fine, thus far
The Leafs are winning Robertson's minutes. He has an expected goals rating of just under 50%. He produces chances whenever he plays, but he can only do so much being centred by David Kampf or Pontus Holmberg.
It's safe to say that Robertson would truly benefit from playing with a better centreman, and I think that's still on the table, but I don't think it needs to be John Tavares or Auston Matthews. Max Domi and Robertson should be able to do some damage, but even if he doesn't score 30 goals this year, it's not a wasted season and he should be shipped out for nothing.
A third-line winger will score 20 goals at the most and that's considered an amazing season, however with Robertson, I feel like we want more. Last year, he scored 14 goals in 56 games, which is a 20 goal pace. He only has one goal in 14 games thus far, so he's struggling, but if he rattle off four goals in his next six games (which is a lot to ask), he'll be back on that pace from last year, which is great.
When you get off to a slow start, it feels like the world is ending, but we should still expect Robertson to have a solid season. Tyler Bertuzzi had a terrible start to the year last season, and was actually playing first-line minutes every night, but he still managed 21 goals, so the season was salvaged.
I'm not saying Robertson is a lock to do the same, but I think we need to give him the benefit of the doubt and trust that he's a solid third-line option so far.
Maybe he'll turn into something special soon, but Leafs fans shouldn't be upset with his production, because the longer he stays like this, the cheaper he'll be and the longer he'll actually get to stay with the organization.