The Maple Leafs have executed a minor trade prior to the opening of unrestricted free agency, clearing out another roster spot and a couple of million dollars in future cap space they would’ve otherwise spent by keeping their qualified, arbitration-eligible RFA around.
Nick Robertson is reuniting with the GM who drafted him in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft, as he heads to Pittsburgh in exchange for a 2028 fourth-round draft choice.
The return seems underwhelming at first blush, but it reflects the reality that Robertson is a scoring-depth player who hasn’t been trusted with a significant role or consistently significant minutes at the NHL level and has barely played at all in the playoffs. Maybe the Penguins can unlock something more, but it wasn’t happening in Toronto.
We’ll see if more pieces move out in a trade or two, but the Leafs currently have Gavin McKenna, Matthew Knies, and Easton Cowan down the left wing. Robertson could play the off wing, and Craig Berube often used him there, but he made his biggest impact and scored most of his best goals by attacking down his strong side, and he was less of a defensive liability there.
Robertson, in effect, had become roster flotsam, and the Leafs may well have been headed to arbitration with him, only to probably frustrate him again with a lack of opportunity out of camp. It was time to move on, and with keeping him around for another season no longer a sensible option, John Chayka could only fetch what the market would bear.
Robertson was a hard worker with good speed, an excellent shot, and commendable courage in his game for someone so undersized. He also deserves credit for shedding the “always injured” label that plagued him early in his career, as he adapted his body and game to avoid putting himself in vulnerable spots as often.
Still, Robertson was regularly dissatisfied with his lack of opportunity — even submitting a trade request in 2024, which the Leafs wisely ignored at the time — and he couldn’t carve out a full-time, natural fit in either the top six or bottom six. Nor was he trusted by multiple head coaches in the playoffs. (It is actually funny — or bizarre — to look back at Sheldon Keefe throwing him into an NHL playoff series fresh out of junior, but I guess the hype in his 55-goals-in-46 games draft+1 season was real.)
The Leafs previously had too many smaller, skilled, left-shot wingers competing for too few spots. Maybe they circle back on Matias Maccelli depending on how the UFA period plays out, but the emergence of Easton Cowan and Gavin McKenna — and particularly if both Cowan and Matthew Knies are still Leafs in the fall — makes it difficult to find room for a left-shot winger who can handle only softer five-on-five minutes and some power-play time. Robertson certainly fit that description, as he’s limited defensively and can’t kill penalties. Walking away from Maccelli and all but giving away Robertson signals that the team is headed in a different direction with its supporting cast.
The Leafs enter the UFA period with $21 million in cap space and some major irons in the fire on both the unrestricted free agent and trade fronts. They’ve cleared the deck just a little bit more here as they gear up to do some serious business.
