“Last year, with the taxi squad, it was up and down. It tends to stunt momentum. We want to see him continue to build momentum and take on a huge role with the PK and defensively while producing offensively. It will just be a matter of time until he forces our hand.”
– Kyle Dubas on Nick Robertson
It was amazing to see this quote and then watch the Leafs call up
Nick Roberson four days later. It’ll be particularly interesting to see if he remains with the team for the rest of the season now or goes back down. He was fine against a Red Wings team that was leaking oil all night, but his minutes were limited and it’s fairly common for a player to come up and be running on adrenaline to start.
If the plan is to keep him up and play him under 10 minutes per game, that does not sound like the best plan for Robertson (compared to the plan Dubas outlined above). If it is just to get him a few games, now it’s back to the yoyo-ing that he just described as not ideal.