The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to not have Nick Robertson in the lineup for Friday night's game against the Buffalo Sabres and it just so happens to be after a substantial report came out that they're still willing to trade him away.
At Friday's morning skate, it was revealed by head coach Craig Berube that Robertson will sit up in the press box of Keybank Arena and be out of the Leafs lineup for the very first time this season. In his place, rookie Easton Cowan will be coming back in to play bottom-six minutes as he tries to carve out a true place to start his professional career.
Nick Robertson will be a healthy scratch for the Leafs for the first time this season tonight in Buffalo
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 24, 2025
Easton Cowan draws back in, Craig Berube confirms @TSN_Sports
This comes the day after Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman wrote about how the Leafs are still trying to trade the 23-year-old Robertson and recently inquired about the likelihood that a swap with the Columbus Blue Jackets for winger Yegor Chinakhov.
Does this signal that a trade is coming? Maybe, but probably not. Robertson just has not been as noticeable on the score sheet as he is on the ice. Through the first seven games of this season, he has earned one assist and is still shooting a whole lot with 15 shots on goal. He's doing all this whole averaging just over 11 minutes of time-on-ice.
Berube is not giving him a whole lot of leash and going three games without a point and the last game being an embarrassment against the New Jersey Devils, something had to change. The Maple Leafs head coach did drastically change the top of the lineup, with Auston Matthews now with William Nylander and Bobby McMann, separated from Matthew Knies for the first time this season. But he was not done, and needed Robertson out and a hungry Easton Cowan to come in and potentially do some damage in Buffalo.
More lineup changes for Friday against the Sabres
Additionally, it's not just the forwards that are affected but the blue line, too. Morgan Rielly is dealing with something and is out for Friday's game. As well, defenseman Chris Tanev remains to be out of the lineup after suffering an unfortunate head injury against the Devils on Tuesday night.
Morgan Rielly is out tonight, Craig Berube says
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 24, 2025
Joins Chris Tanev on the sidelines @TSN_Sports
We'll see just how the Maple Leafs look and if they can survive a Sabres team that was actually just able to shutout the Florida Panthers last weekend and then beat the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday by a score of 4-2. They're getting back in the winning column (slightly) and could still take advantage of a weakened Leafs side.