What do the Leafs do with Nick Robertson?

[DarkKnight]

Nothing Robertson has shown me has convinced me he's an NHL player....prove me wrong big boy.

 

[WillyC]

Start him to open the season while he’s fresh… then trade him to Pittsburgh.

 

[Larcos_Unal]

One shift does not define a career...a consistent history of injuries and lack of production does.
Don't get me wrong I'd love for one, just one, tiny draft pick to finally hit.

 

[leafan11]

One shift does not define a career...a consistent history of injuries and lack of production does.
Don't get me wrong I'd love for one, just one, tiny draft pick to finally hit.

There’s not a Marlie in our system capable of having a game that Nick had against Dallas. He also was extremely snake bit in his last stint , I remember him hitting at least 3 posts and having some glorious chances.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Maybe I'm wrong but it always seemed like he either didn't have the hockey sense or the speed to get himself into those shooting lanes. He did play with centers who wouldn't have had much problem feeding him if he simply could get there.

You aren’t wrong. He’s got a hell of a motor and works his ass off every shift but he definitely lacks the hockey sense to direct that energy into finding himself in prime scoring positions.

I still have hopes for him to become a decent 3rd liner with some scoring touch. I doubt he’ll ever live up to his top end potential of being a top 6 guy though. And that’s assuming he doesn’t continue to have serious injuries every year obviously.

 

[Aashir Mallik]

Someone needs to sit him down and explain to him that he is 5ft 9.

I really love the hound in him, and the fact that he WANTS to play physical, but he has to ease up on plays otherwise he’s just gonna end up hurt. If he had Nylander’s body I wouldn’t be worried as much, but the guy is much much smaller. He needs to try and replicate johnsson’s game from when he was here imo. 1inch taller and 10 pounds heavier so he has some work to do there, but if he can replicate johnsson, with a better shot, he should be a good top 9 forward

 

[thewave]

Dont we usually trade guys like him for an old guy with a team crippling contract?

 

[DarkKnight]

One shift does not define a career...a consistent history of injuries and lack of production does.
Don't get me wrong I'd love for one, just one, tiny draft pick to finally hit.

Sure, but he hasn’t had a “career” yet I still think he can breakthrough. He was awesome last year at camp and had some promising play prior to the injury. The big thing here for me, he has to learn to play within himself physically, if he can harness his motor, I still like him as a player. But, you’re right so far so not.

 

[Larcos_Unal]

There’s not a Marlie in our system capable of having a game that Nick had against Dallas. He also was extremely snake bit in his last stint , I remember him hitting at least 3 posts and having some glorious chances.

He's got a great shot but I distinctly recall Nick missing the net far wide or way over the crossbar several times. He's trying for the perfect shot each time instead of just getting it on net.

There’s not a Marlie in our system capable of having a game that Nick had against Dallas. He also was extremely snake bit in his last stint , I remember him hitting at least 3 posts and having some glorious chances.

That says more about our system than it does Nick tbh.

 

[hamzarocks]

Ideally we see him playing with matthews who doesnt need a marner or nylander on his wing to be elite

Robertson - Matthews - bertuzzi (if he can play offside) - Matchup + offense line who will have skill and grit

Nylander - JT - marner - go to offensive line, let them play through the pains/downs abd hsve their takent create a Pizza Line - lite form

Knies - Kampf - Domi - another heavy and skilled 3rd line which can also play in defensive zone due to Kampf's calmness

Reeves - Jarnkrok - Acciari - 4th line with some speed and Jarnkroks skill. We sacrifice his offense but at 2.25M if he gives 25 pts its fine and this allows us to maximize Reeves time on the ice without being burned

 

[Stephen]

Someone needs to sit him down and explain to him that he is 5ft 9.

I really love the hound in him, and the fact that he WANTS to play physical, but he has to ease up on plays otherwise he’s just gonna end up hurt. If he had Nylander’s body I wouldn’t be worried as much, but the guy is much much smaller. He needs to try and replicate johnsson’s game from when he was here imo. 1inch taller and 10 pounds heavier so he has some work to do there, but if he can replicate johnsson, with a better shot, he should be a good top 9 forward

Robertson's got the heart of a lion, but until he can develop Marty St Louis lower body strength he really doesn't have the tools to do a lot of things he wants to do on the ice. He wants to play a big man's game, he's a puck hound, closes on bodies, kind of a high octane, kind of inefficient game. I think he needs to work on ghosting in and out of traffic, presenting the open shot and taking advantage of his shooting abilities. Work smarter, lazier and be less involved but be opportunistic.

In terms of what the Leafs need to do with him, just treat him like any 22 year old trying to make the team. Give him a shot and don't let past expectations colour expectations today. He was well ahead of schedule, then unfairly accelerated. Then made to feel like he was very behind. He's a little behind. Just go in with an open mind and low expectations and take a more nurturing approach than trying to win a long bet as a quick fix.

 

[MilkofthePoppy]

Give him a chance. A lot to like. Held back to injuries.

 

[Racer88]

Dont we usually trade guys like him for an old guy with a team crippling contract?

No actually we got Tavares in free agency……..

 

[Fogelhund]

Waiver exempt player, with a great shot, and team control. Why exactly would you trade this, as a team with a pretty shallow prospect pool? What do you expect to get back from such a trade, and how and when do you think that return would benefit us? I think the odds are stacked against him, but he's a hard worker, and if he hits, he'll be a very good player. If we trade him, we'd get... a second round, more likely third round pick... that might benefit us in four years. Nah... keep him, and hope he hits.

 

[hfman]

Dont we usually trade guys like him for an old guy with a team crippling contract?

no we usually trade guys like him for players who are 38 years old and used to be superstars

 

[ACC1224]

no we usually trade guys like him for players who are 38 years old and used to be superstars

Ive forgotten but what’s the most recent example of that?

 

[leafs in five]

Dont we usually trade guys like him for an old guy with a team crippling contract?

at this point I have lost count of the number of times we have traded guys like Robertson for an old guy with a team crippling contract

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

Ideally we see him playing with matthews who doesnt need a marner or nylander on his wing to be elite

Robertson - Matthews - bertuzzi (if he can play offside) - Matchup + offense line who will have skill and grit

Nylander - JT - marner - go to offensive line, let them play through the pains/downs abd hsve their takent create a Pizza Line - lite form

Knies - Kampf - Domi - another heavy and skilled 3rd line which can also play in defensive zone due to Kampf's calmness

Reeves - Jarnkrok - Acciari - 4th line with some speed and Jarnkroks skill. We sacrifice his offense but at 2.25M if he gives 25 pts its fine and this allows us to maximize Reeves time on the ice without being burned

Acciari is in Pittsburgh

 

[Fogelhund]

Ideally we see him playing with matthews who doesnt need a marner or nylander on his wing to be elite

Robertson - Matthews - bertuzzi (if he can play offside) - Matchup + offense line who will have skill and grit

Nylander - JT - marner - go to offensive line, let them play through the pains/downs abd hsve their takent create a Pizza Line - lite form

Knies - Kampf - Domi - another heavy and skilled 3rd line which can also play in defensive zone due to Kampf's calmness

Reeves - Jarnkrok - Acciari - 4th line with some speed and Jarnkroks skill. We sacrifice his offense but at 2.25M if he gives 25 pts its fine and this allows us to maximize Reeves time on the ice without being burned

Playing Kampf with a rookie, and Domi.. a weak guy defensively... seems like a weird match. I mean, if you are going to have a strong defensive line fine.. but this isn't it.

Acciari? He's not a Leaf.

Robertson a shooter... Matthews a shooter, and Bertuzzi.. more of a shooter than setup guy... I mean, you need someone who is good at setting up here... and you don't have that.

 

[LeafalCrusader]

With Knies, Domi and Bert added I think Jarnkrok gets squeezed out of any decent offensive minutes and his scoring falls back to his Nashville days. Turning 32 and just came off a career year so he is never going to be worth more than right now if you want to move that $2.1M per.

Looking at his advanced stats the only regular that seems to have really benefited from him as a linemate is Kampf. He seems like a pretty safe guy to remove.

We have lost a lot of penalty killers. We're pretty much left with Kampf Marner Jarnkrok and Lafferty up front. Not a fan of the idea of replacing Jarnkrok with Robertson. If you move out Jarnkrok get a defensive responsible forward to replace him instead imo.

 

[DuklaNation]

I had him in my keeper league and dumped him shortly after that shoulder injury (1st shift of 1st game in Jan/21) at a loss. It was a massive red flag. Unfortunately clowns like Dubas don't know real asset management.

 

[hamzarocks]

Acciari is in Pittsburgh

Playing Kampf with a rookie, and Domi.. a weak guy defensively... seems like a weird match. I mean, if you are going to have a strong defensive line fine.. but this isn't it.

Acciari? He's not a Leaf.

Robertson a shooter... Matthews a shooter, and Bertuzzi.. more of a shooter than setup guy... I mean, you need someone who is good at setting up here... and you don't have that.

Brain fart meant lafferty not Acciari

Playing Kampf with a rookie, and Domi.. a weak guy defensively... seems like a weird match. I mean, if you are going to have a strong defensive line fine.. but this isn't it.

Acciari? He's not a Leaf.

Robertson a shooter... Matthews a shooter, and Bertuzzi.. more of a shooter than setup guy... I mean, you need someone who is good at setting up here... and you don't have that.

A strong 3rd defensive line ends up being a dead weight line that can't create much

This 3rd line gives the ability forechek (knies), shoot (knies amd kampf) skate the puck (domi), set plays from the boards and wings (domi) while having a defensive presence to keep domi (a defensive nightmare) and Knies(roomie with growing pains) honest and up to mark

 

[Gilles Meloche]

He's like Grabovski in a way. Shifty, good shot but gets beaten up physically

More like Nikolai Borschevsky

 

[Niagara Bill]

More like Nikolai Borschevsky

No Borschevsky knew not to skate like a whirling dervish. Robertson needs to learn to play the game, go when the time is right and not try to punish 6 2 210lb dmen

 

[ULF_55]

Trading a 20 goal scorer and replacing him with a player made of glass would be the opposite of smart

Doesn't it depend on the assets coming back?