Though it did not directly affect the Toronto Maple Leafs, the St. Louis Blues did something yesterday that sent shockwaves through the NHL.
The Toronto Maple Leafs haven't been involved in an offer-sheet situation since the 1990s, but it was announced on Tuesday that the St. Louis Blues had tendered offer-sheets on not one, but two players both from the Edmonton Oilers. They offer-sheeted forward Dylan Holloway, for two years at $2.29 million AAV and defenseman Philip Broberg for two years at $4.59 million.
Currently, there are 25 Restricted Free Agents (RFAs) on the open market, ranging from as high profile as 2020 fourth overall pick, Lucas Raymond to minor league net-minder and newly signed KHLer, Ivan Prosvetov.
Somewhere in the middle lies the Toronto Maple leafs very own once-top prospect Nick Robertson. It is no secret he has faced struggles cracking the Maple Leafs lineup on a consistent basis while battling major injury issues throughout his young career so far. The uncertainty surrounding him as well as him reportedly requesting a trade, makes him a potential candidate for an offer-sheet.
Could theToronto Maple Leafs Nick Robertson Be Offer-Sheeted
Offersheets have been used sparingly throughout their history. Although they were around before the lockout, the introduction of the salary cap made them a much bigger deal with teams having to be more careful how they allocate their limited money.
In order to sign an offersheet, there are usually certain conditions that need to be met within a players’ situation. Obviously, a player needs to be a restricted free agent in order to receive an offer sheet. Outside of that, there needs to be some disconnect between what the team is willing to pay the player vs what the player wants/deserves and what other teams would be willing to pay. Given the perception of offersheets, there is also typically some form of strain on a relationship between the player and the team that own’s their rights. There can be others but these two are the main ones reported on.
In Nick Robertson’s situation, it appears given reports, that both of those things are present in his situation with the Leafs. There is clearly a disconnect in how the team views his skillset as he was a healthy scratch many times this season and was sent down to the Toronto Marlies twice. When he was in the lineup, he was used sparingly, averaging less than 11:30 per night of ice time. Despite this, he proved to be a very capable depth scorer, potting 14 goals and 13 assists in only 56 games.
Robertson has been lauded for his energetic style of play and high motor, using his speed and drive to help at both ends of the ice. He was also a prolific scorer with the OHL’s Peterborough Petes, scoring 55 goals in only 46 games in his post-draft season. His skillset would make him an ideal player for the Leafs to continue to utilize throughout their lineup and he fits a major need of depth scoring. However, if the Leafs truly do not value him, he could be used as a trade chip for the team to fill other needs. Losing him via an offersheet would negate either of these and depending on compensation, the Leafs could lose out on a truly valuable asset.
As of right now, there are no rumours that he could be targeted by an offersheet but many high profile Leafs players have been subject to such rumours in recent years. He will be just 23 when the season starts, giving him plenty of time to improve and develop into a more prominent scorer in the NHL. Will it be with the Leafs? Only time will tell.