Nick Robertson is having a great two weeks, which means they need to trade him ASAP before his stock drops.
Robertson sits sixth on the Leafs in goals scored this year but nine goals and 20 points halfway through the season doesn't get me excited about the future of this left-winger. The 24-year-old played his first game with Toronto in August, 2020, so we should have seen a much bigger improvement by now.
We all know the story, as it's been documented countless times, but for your memory, Robertson scored 55 goals in his last year of junior, prior the pandemic which sparked crazy interest in Leafs Nation. In 2020, Toronto was in its second year with John Tavares, while Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander were all 22-years-old or younger, so the optimstic was high with the potential of adding another star winger to the bunch.
As always, the defense could have used a little improvement, but the tandem of Jack Campbell and Freddie Andersen in net set the Leafs up for a window to win now and for the foreseeable future. As mentioned, the pandemic hit, which pushed the playoffs to a bubble followed by a weird All-Canadian season one year later and then the team's window kind of closed.
The Leafs trajectory as an organization has been very similar to Robertson's as they have been both filled with optimism before falling in the biggest moments. With three goals in his last five games, Robertson's recent play reminds me of a 4-1 third period lead against the Bruins, as although things look very good right now, just wait a few minutes as it's about to get much worse.
Leafs need to trade Nick Robertson ASAP
I'm not saying that Robertson doesn't deserve to be an NHLer, but similarily to how I feel about most of this roster, I think he (and a few others) need a change of scenery. There's no doubt that Robertson can go to a place like San Jose and score 25 goals per season for the next decade, but unless he can manage legitimate top-six minutes in Toronto (he won't), he needs to get traded.
The third-line of Robertson-Roy-Cowan has been nice over the past week, but imagine them having to match-up against a Panthers line of Verhaeghe-Bennett-Marchand on the road? They would allow a goal against them every shift.
As much as Robertson's offense could be useful on this roster, Toronto's goal-scoring production can still run through Matthews, Knies, Tavares and Nylander for them to be successful. Instead, more than ever since Chris Tanev's injury update, the Leafs need defenseman, so a swap of Robertson for a younger defenseman needs to happen now.
The stock isn't going to rise much more than it is with Robertson and younger teams are always looking for a winger to score. Robertson can be a big trade piece ahead of the deadline this year and the team needs to move on from him before they let him walk for free, or worse, re-sign him.