Despite signing a one-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, Frank Seravalli reports that Nicholas Robertson is still likely to be traded and might not even be a member of training camp. The 23-year-old requested a trade after a contract stalemate at the end of June, but the two sides reached an agreement to the tune of $875,000. Robertson, somewhat reasonably, feels as though he’s entitled to more playing time than he was given while under the jurisdiction of Sheldon Keefe as head coach.
There aren’t many teams that can give him the top-six opportunity he sees himself deserving of, though, which presents a bit of an issue in regards to where he’s a potential good fit. There is, in fact, interest from other parties in acquiring the disgruntled left winger, so it’s entirely possible the Maple Leafs are able to find a suitor that could be of mutual benefit. It’s unlikely Robertson will be a top-six player in Toronto given Bobby McMann’s breakout last season, and even if Robertson was the superior talent between the two and was able to sequester McMann’s opportunities in concept, both sides are clearly leaning toward a mutual departure anyway. Let’s look into three teams that could both find opportunities for Robertson and provide the Maple Leafs with adequate payment in return.
Montreal Canadiens
It might seem like a bad idea to send a disgruntled young skater with a reasonably high ceiling to arguably your biggest rival, but it certainly does make sense from a personnel and opportunity standpoint. The Canadiens were active in the offseason, acquiring stud goal scorer Patrik Laine from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a low price, indicating they’re looking to speed up their rebuild while maintaining assets. Their first line is set in stone, with Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield presumably being glued together for the foreseeable future. Their second line, currently projected as Alex Newhook, Kirby Dach, and Laine, has room for improvement on the left side, though. That’s nothing against Newhook — who proved he’s capable of middle-six minutes — but Robertson is likely an improvement there the Canadiens’ front office would be wrong to ignore. Moving Newhook to the third line would also drastically improve the team’s depth-scoring abilities.
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The Maple Leafs should be looking to improve on their bottom-six depth and perhaps acquire draft capital for usage at the 2025 Trade Deadline. In all honesty, the Canadiens’ depth pieces aren’t anything to write home about, but they boast a couple of players who should be regarded as improvements to the Maple Leafs’ fourth-line players. Specifically, Joel Armia would be a palatable addition, far surpassing the two-way abilities of the likes of Ryan Reaves, who currently occupies the fourth-line right-wing position in lineup projections. The 31-year-old Armia ranked in the 57th percentile for offensive goals above replacement (GAR) and in the 96th for defensive GAR, as per Evolving Hockey. If I were Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving, the asking price for Robertson would start at Armia and an early-mid draft pick between rounds three and five.
San Jose Sharks
Things are dismal in San Jose right now, with the Sharks having been one of the worst teams in the NHL for multiple seasons with no real end in sight. For now, they should be looking to build around their young budding stars in Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, William Eklund, and Yaroslav Askarov. Stud prospects Quentin Musty and Sam Dickinson will likely make NHL appearances this season, but the point is they’re not close to being a Cup contender and could use all the young talent in the world to build a competitive core. Robertson is no exception to this rule, and could easily slot in as the team’s season-long second-line left-winger behind Eklund, pushing Mikael Granlund to the third line in the process.
In adding Robertson to their roster, the Sharks would be providing Smith — the budding playmaking star and probable second-line centre of the future — with a goal scorer who finished among the league’s best in terms of goals per 60 minutes (Robertson was 78th in the NHL in this metric.) Complementing their potentially deadly 1-2 punch down the middle is imperative to their success, and doing so with players who fit their profile as an extraordinarily young team only furthers the potential success they can find in a few years.
As for the acquisition cost, again, there isn’t much to look for in San Jose in terms of depth talent, but they certainly have the draft capital to make it work without providing a roster player in return. I would say that their 2025 second-round selection should be a reasonable enough price and would give the Maple Leafs another asset they could use to acquire something more substantial at the trade deadline.
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks find themselves in a similar spot as the Sharks, though admittedly their prospect pool — which is still great -— is a bit more beaten up than the Sharks and they likely have a bit of a lower ceiling at this point. Still, they boast one of the best young centre groups in the league with Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish headlining their top two lines. On defense, Owen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov, and Stian Solberg headline their young core. They’ve got Cutter Gauthier, Trevor Zegras, Troy Terry, and Beckett Sennecke to build around on the wings in the future, but currently have a spot open on the second line currently occupied by veteran presence Alex Killorn. While Killorn isn’t going anywhere unless he’s traded — he’s entering the second season of a four-year deal -— he’s likely better suited for third-line duties while a young forward takes the reigns in the top-six to develop alongside their stud young centres.
The Maple Leafs don’t necessarily need to add on defense after drastically improving their blue line this off-season, but Radko Gudas should be a name on their radar regardless. The tough, physical defender has extremely impressive underlying statistics on both offense and defense. Perhaps the two sides could come together on a multiple-player deal that sees Robertson and Jake McCabe heading to Anaheim in exchange for Radko Gudas and a couple of draft picks in the third-to-fifth round range.
Maple Leafs Can Upgrade Depth In Robertson Trade
With such a weak fourth line, the Maple Leafs should be looking to acquire players who will provide depth scoring abilities in addition to draft capital that they can use later on as trade bait. Sure, keeping Robertson would result in some line shuffling that might improve the bottom-six scoring depth, but if he doesn’t want to be a part of the team, Toronto is better off sending him somewhere where he won’t be a net-negative in the locker room. If they want to be successful in the postseason, they can’t have players who don’t want to be there in the roles they are assigned and would be much better off shipping those who don’t align with the team’s plan to those that will satisfy their needs. Robertson is no exception to this rule, and it would be a win-win getting rid of him while accruing depth talent who can help down the stretch and into the playoffs.
