All season long, many of us have been writing about how the Toronto Maple Leafs should trade Nick Robertson sooner rather than later. We’ve thrown him around as a trade chip in various proposed deals. Some have even suggested placing Robertson on waivers and hoping he gets claimed somewhere.
But after seeing Sunday night’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks, a thought came to mind: The Toronto Maple Leafs might be better off holding onto Nick Roberston. Allow me to go through the thought process.
First of all, Robertson’s trade value at this point is almost non-existent. It would be quite tough to entice a team to take him as the main return in a deal. Even a team desperate to dump a contract like the Blackhawks are with Seth Jones, Robertson wouldn’t be the piece to move the needle.
Second, throwing in Robertson to entice a deal wouldn’t do much, either. Suppose the Leafs wanted to acquire a player with a high cap hit. Throwing in Robertson wouldn’t be enough to entice a team to retain 50% of such a player’s salary.
Lastly, Robertson is still a young player at 23 years old. He still has an upside and could still blossom into a solid middle-six winger over time. Perhaps it’s just been Robertson’s head getting in the way of his play on the ice.
With that in mind, there’s plenty of reason to believe that the Leafs might be better off holding onto Robertson and waiting till the summer to sort out his situation.
Toronto Maple Leafs can Wait till Summer to Move Robertson
At this point, there’s no sense in trading Robertson unless there’s a deal that makes sense for everyone involved. By that, I mean adding a significant player that can impact the team like a true second-line centre or a high-end defenceman. With such deals unlikely at the trade deadline, it makes much more sense to wait till the summer to move Robertson.
Robertson will still be an RFA this summer. So, it costs the Leafs practically nothing to qualify him at $918K. Of course, that doesn’t mean he will re-sign. In fact, we could have another repeat of last summer’s drama all over again.
But during the summer, the Leafs can bundle Robertson with draft picks or something else to make a deal happen. Otherwise, Robertson could be motivated to work something out beyond another one-year deal.
If Robertson can at least match his goal total from last season, we can say that this year was mostly successful. The Leafs essentially got what they paid for, with the possibility of their relationship being repaired somewhat.
At the very least, re-signing Robertson next summer means the Leafs get a decent middle-six winger on the cheap. With the salary cap going up and needing to splurge on Mitch Marner, the Leafs will need every bit of cap space to make sure they can keep Marner in the fold.
In the meantime, keeping Robertson around is a low-risk proposition that could help the Leafs down the road, especially in the playoffs.