Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nick Robertson scored his first goal since October 22 on Saturday night and with that tally, expect the floodgates to open.
When you're a highly-touted prospect playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, there's a lot more pressure than other markets. Sometimes it's fair and sometimes it's not, but when it comes to Nick Robertson's career, I'd say most of it is misunderstood.
When Robertson made his debut in 2020-21, he did it after scoring 55 goals in 46 games in the OHL and was all of a sudden looked at as the next great young forward. However as a 19-year-old who's only 5-foot-9, 175 pounds, it's tough to make an immediate impact at the NHL level. Since then, he's played multiple seasons maturing every year while battling between the AHL and NHL before now officially being an everyday NHLer.
With 107 games under his belt, Robertson is a still a rookie in some degree. He's faced multiple injuries over the past few years, has played for multiple coaches and hasn't quite been given a role that he was used to during his junior/AHL career.
Robertson has never been a bottom-six player in his entire career, yet that's where he's been asked to play over the past two years with the Leafs, and that's not as easy as it sounds. Currently on a line with Steven Lorentz and Fraser Minten, you wouldn't expect those three to be scoring every night. Not to mention, he has played the most this season with Pontus Holmber and Simon Benoit.
Dont give up on Robertson; the floodgates are about to open
However, the criticism that Robertson continues to face is crazy and I'm so happy he scored on Saturday night and scored the way he did. Robertson came down the wing and scored a rocket over Andrei Vasilevskiy's shoulder, which is usually impossible to do. Vasilevskiy is a future Hall-of-Fame goaltender, yet Robertson fooled him with his incredible shot, showcasing the elite skill he has.
Robertson may only have two goals in 20 games, but he only has 31 shots on net, representing a 6.1 shooting percentage. He is producing shots and scoring chances at a decent rate, especially considering who he normally plays with, and should start to score more frequently any time now.
Robertson scored 14 goals in 56 games last year, which is a 20 goal campaign in an 82-game season, so if you use that math, that's very impressive for any NHL rookie. As a result, the last thing the Leafs should do is give up on this guy, like they gave up on Timothy Liljegren.
Robertson only needs a few more goals in the next few weeks to get back to that pace from last year, so don't be shocked if it happens because Robertson is an elite talent who should be part of the Leafs program for a long time.