Robertson expected to end Leafs contract standoff: report
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Nick Robertson might finally be ending their contract standoff.
According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the 22-year-old winger appears to have weighed his options, and could soon no longer be a restricted free agent.
“I believe that they’re going to get something done and that Nick Robertson will return to the Maple Leafs,” Dreger told TSN 1050’s First Up program today. “It sounds like he’s leaning more toward recognizing what he has in Toronto and making the best of the situation.”
If he returns to Toronto, Robertson will have the chance to play under a new coach in Craig Berube, while also testing his skillset in training camp against a rather inexperienced crop of left wingers. As it currently stands, Matthew Knies, Bobby McMann, Pontus Holmberg, and Connor Dewar are the four players most likely to crack the opening-day roster, none of whom have played more than 190 NHL games.
Robertson, a 2019 draft pick by the Leafs in the second round, put up 14 goals and 13 assists in 56 games for the team this past season. However, shortly after the NHL season ended, Dreger’s TSN colleague Chris Johnston broke the news that Robertson had requested a trade away from the only NHL organization he’d ever known.
And even less than two weeks ago, it seemed like Robertson was still singing that tune.
“I think, obviously, at this stage of the summer, the Leafs are still working through what happens with Nick Robertson, but there’s a pretty clear path for him to be part of the mix at left wing, to potentially have a role that exceeds what he’s had in the past,” Johnston said at the time.
“But at this stage, Nick Robertson doesn’t seem inclined to sign in Toronto and is sticking to the idea that he’d like to play somewhere else. And so I think they have to kind of sort that out first or as part of this.”
Under two weeks remain until Toronto’s first preseason game against the Ottawa Senators on September 22.
