Ever since being drafted 53rd overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2019, winger Nick Robertson has walked a weird path. Injuries have set his development back, that has led the 23-year-old to not have earned the most trust in being the scoring winger a past regime thought they drafted.
This past season though was a career year, if we can call it that. Through 69 games played, Robertson scored 15 goals and 22 points while averaging just 12 minutes of ice-time a game -- only Steven Lorentz averaged fewer minutes than Robertson did last season, despite showing some signs of positive offensive impact.
Among all Leafs skaters at 5-on-5 Robertson averaged the fourth-highest shots on goal per hour and only Auston Matthews averaged more shot attempts per 60 minutes than the 23-year-old winger. All of that volume shooting led to Robertson scoring 1.05 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, which ranked fourth on the team. Matthews Knies (1.21 G/60), William Nylander (1.17), and John Tavares (1.13) were the only Toronto players that scored at a higher rate than Robertson last season at 5-on-5.
If we open up that scoring rate to the entire league, among the 756 skaters in the NHL that played at least 200 minutes at 5-on-5 last season, Robertson's 1.05 goals per 60 minutes ranks him 55th. And his scoring rate was higher than some elite goalscorers like Jack Eichel, Kirill Kaprizov, and Jake Guentzel.
Of course we're not saying that if Robertson just played more minutes than he would be scoring 40 goals like it was nothing, but his success rate is good enough to warrant significant attention.
So, why mention some of his statistics from last season? Well, for the past few years Robertson has found himself in the middle of trade rumors and they feel completely unwarranted. He's not the perfect player but for a team that needs scoring depth, to leave him with so few minutes feels almost criminal.
With a summer ahead for the Toronto Maple Leafs that will feature a lot of turnover, it could include Robertson moving to a new organization as this Leafs team tries to shift to more of a balanced roster since Marner is on his way out. But after some early looks at what the Maple Leafs can actually do this summer, they might need to keep Robertson after all and force themselves to give him a bigger role next season.
When it comes to free agents the Leafs can sign, are any of them signing for under $2.5 million per season and have the potential to score at least 20 goals next season? Most certainly not, but Robertson does. Evolving-Hockey has Robertson's next contract -- since he is a pending restricted free agent -- projected as a two-year deal with a $2.173 million AAV. That feels like it has steal potential.
And again, the Leafs need as much flexibility as possible. Even away from the free agent market, there are very good players available via trade -- Stars' Jason Robertson, Wild's Marco Rossi, and Sabres' J.J. Peterka are three names that come to mind -- but Toronto has next to now assets to trade. No draft picks and almost zero young players that hold any value around the league and that other teams covet, except Matthew Knies, who is almost certainly not going to be traded.
With a lack of true options to make this team better and acquire a player that is capable of doing what Robertson can potentially do for as inexpensive as he will be, the Maple Leafs are stuck but in a good way. They're almost forced to give Robertson a chance to do something more for longer than they have previously.