Penguins Sign Nick Robertson To Two-Year Deal
According to Elliotte Friedman, the Penguins have settled with Nicholas Robertson on a new contract.
The forward was one of 15 RFAs who filed for Salary Arbitration. A few days ago, the dates for each player’s arbitration hearings were set, including Robertson. If a deal wasn’t reached before the proceedings, the Penguins had the option to choose between a one or two-year contract for Robertson, with the arbitrator settling the value of the contract.
His arbitration hearing was on the calendar for later this month, on July 28th. Robertson avoids that hearing by signing a two-year, $6.5MM ($3.25MM AAV) contract, per Friedman. The deal will pay him through the 2028-29 season, when he’ll turn 26 and become an RFA again.
He finished his 2025-26 season scoring 16 goals for 32 points with the Toronto Maple Leafs, setting career-highs for the former 2019 second-round pick. The Leafs traded him to Pittsburgh on July 1st for a 2028 fourth-round pick, reuniting Robertson with the GM who originally drafted him, Kyle Dubas.
The 24-year-old winger, a second-round pick in 2019, has profiled as a useful supplementary scoring forward in a middle-six role, especially in the last three seasons as a 20-30 point player, with 14, 15, and 16 goals in each of those three seasons. He’s built that up through his six bumpy seasons under the Toronto organization, where, with much trade speculation, linking him to the Penguins all the way back to 2024, he had signed two one-year deals after his entry-level contract’s end in 2024 and never received over 13 minutes of ice time.
Now with Pittsburgh, Robertson is a younger option within the forward group for the Penguins, turning 25 in September. The Pens now have around $13MM in cap space and 14 forwards on their books. It should be noted that Nicholas is the younger brother of Stars star Jason Robertson, who remains in need of a new contract. If the Penguins are attempting to pony up to acquire the American scorer, signing his brother is one way to start.
More to come.
Hearing Dates Set For Players Who Filed For Arbitration
Salary arbitration hearings are a little more than a week away with a total of 15 players filing for one earlier this month. Ottawa’s Xavier Bourgault has already signed while the other 14 are still without contracts. PuckPedia has received the schedule for hearing dates, which is as follows:
July 20
D Jamie Drysdale, Flyers
F Cole Perfetti, Jets
July 22
F Trevor Zegras, Flyers
July 23
G Jet Greaves, Blue Jackets
July 25
F Connor McMichael, Blues
F Jason Robertson, Stars
July 27
F Cole Sillinger, Blue Jackets
July 28
F Nicholas Robertson, Penguins
July 29
D Braden Schneider, Rangers
D Ronan Seeley, Hurricanes
July 30
F Kirby Dach, Canadiens
F Alex Jefferies, Islanders
August 1
F Peyton Krebs, Sabres
G Akira Schmid, Panthers
Philadelphia will be busy early in the process but that is by choice, as teams can request where their players are scheduled on the arbitration docket. Conversely, teams like Montreal, Florida, and Buffalo likely requested that their players be placed at the back, allowing for more time for negotiations or planning.
A refresher on the arbitration rules:
- A player and team can settle on a deal at any point before the hearing starts.
- Once the hearing has taken place, the arbitration decision must be issued by email within 48 hours of the closing.
- Arbitration awards can only be one or two years in length; players who are in their final year of restricted free agency are only entitled to a one-year term.
- The team decides on the awarded term, as these were all player elections.
- The team can walk away from the arbitration decision if a contract with an average annual value of more than $4.9508MM is Teams have 48 hours to decide if they’ll accept or walk away.
Once a team has had all of its cases settled or awarded, a second buyout window will open up three days later. However, only a player who was on the roster at the trade deadline and has a cap charge of $4MM or more is eligible to be bought out during this 48-hour window.
Penguins Acquire Nicholas Robertson
According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Pittsburgh Penguins are acquiring Nicholas Robertson from the Toronto Maple Leafs. TSN’s Chris Johnston followed on LeBrun’s report, indicating that the Maple Leafs would receive a fourth-round pick from the Penguins. Pittsburgh confirmed the deal, including that they have sent their 2028 fourth-round pick to Toronto.
A Robertson trade has been a long time in the making. A speculative trade candidate for several years, the Maple Leafs have finally pulled off a trade. Now, in Pittsburgh, Robertson will rejoin the General Manager who drafted him in the first place.
Despite being a second-round pick by Toronto in the 2019 NHL Draft, Robertson hadn’t become a full-time piece for the Maple Leafs until the 2023-24 season. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. Although he had some injury concerns, Robertson was more than productive with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. Still, given the talent they had up front, Toronto was unwilling to give Robertson a spot in their top six.
That has remained the case leading up to today. Throughout the past three years, Robertson has scored 45 goals and 81 points in 203 games with a -10 rating, averaging 12:05 of ice time per game. On an 82-game average, Robertson has been nearing a 20-goal average, which would obviously benefit a lot of teams.
Although the top of the Penguins’ forward corps is similarly saturated, Robertson should have access to more playing time in his new home. Especially if he’s placed next to Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, Robertson should have no issues reaching the 20-goal plateau next year if he can remain healthy.
Additionally, he fits Pittsburgh’s timeline. Despite having six years of NHL experience, Robertson is only 24 years old and is a restricted free agent this summer. He does have arbitration rights, but his contract status gives Kyle Dubas the flexibility to keep him on a deal that makes sense for both sides.
Central Notes: Robertson, Wild, Ott
With a big contract negotiation on the horizon this summer, Stars winger Jason Robertson has switched agents. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link) that Robertson (and his brother Nicholas Robertson) are now being represented by Octagon’s Andy Scott; they had both been previously repped by CAA’s Pat Brisson. The winger has 56 points in 49 games with Dallas this season, putting him on track to hit the 80-point mark for the fourth straight season. He’s owed a qualifying offer of $9.3MM with arbitration rights in late June but will likely make a few million more per season than that. Notably, Scott also represents Mikko Rantanen, Wyatt Johnston, and Thomas Harley, all of whom have signed long-term deals with the Stars within the last year.
More from the Central Division:
- After moving out a young center as part of the return for Quinn Hughes, it appears the Wild are keeping tabs on another young middleman. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that Minnesota is a team that’s believed to have some interest in Hurricanes center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, though he’s not viewed as their top choice to add down the middle. Kotkaniemi is believed to be getting shopped by the team, recognizing that he needs a change of scenery after recording just seven points in 29 games so far this season. However, the 25-year-old still has four years left on his deal after this one with a $4.82MM cap charge, a price tag the Wild can’t afford at the moment.
- The Blues have made a coaching change with their AHL affiliate in Springfield. The team announced that Steve Ott will take over as head coach with the Thunderbirds, replacing Steve Konowalchuk, who has been let go. This will be Ott’s first time as head coach after serving as an assistant or associate coach in St. Louis since 2017. He has been a speculative head coaching target over the past couple of offseasons and some experience running a bench might help give him a boost for future vacancies. Konowalchuk, meanwhile, departs with a 47-50-12 record over parts of two seasons with the Thunderbirds.
Maple Leafs Attempted Summer Trade Of Nicholas Robertson
Winger Nicholas Robertson will serve as a healthy scratch for the first time this season when the Toronto Maple Leafs visit the Buffalo Sabres on Friday. Robertson’s move out of the lineup comes after he recorded just one assist, and a minus-four, through the first four games of Toronto’s season. He’ll be replaced by rookie winger Easton Cowan, once again sparking concerns over Robertson’s ability to stick in the everyday lineup.
Those worries have led to plenty of trade rumors in the past. Now, it’s been revealed that the Leafs tried to bring those rumors to fruition this summer by offering Robertson to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for fellow trade-block winger Yegor Chinakhov, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in the latest 32 Thoughts article.
The move was ultimately rejected – for good reason. Chinakhov is a former first-round selection, going 21st-overall to Columbus in a shocking move at the 2020 NHL Draft. He’s since racked up 34 goals and 72 points in 178 games in the NHL. His best year so far came in 2023-24, when he scored 16 goals and 29 points in 53 games. Those numbers trump Robertson in both longevity and peak. A former second-round pick, Robertson has since recorded 57 points in 163 NHL games, with a single-season high of 27 points in 56 games also recorded in 2023-24.
Looking beyond the stats still favors Chinakhov in a direct matchup. Both players are volume shooters who don’t rack up many hits, blocks, or takeaways – but Chinakhov’s 6-foo-1, 200-pound frame helps him win space more frequently than the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Robertson. That imbalance would likely force Toronto to include an added incentive to swap the two wingers, which could have been the barrier that ended trade talks. Chinakhov also walked back his requests for a trade after a conversation with first-year Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason.
While news of a rejected trade won’t help Toronto moving forward, it does make the vision around Robertson’s market a bit clearer. He isn’t tempting enough to sit at the same value as other struggling, young wingers – surely in part thanks to his struggles to hold a nightly role. As he heads back to the press box for the first time this season, the Maple Leafs will no doubt continue their search for a change of scenery for their depth shooter. Robertson has averaged 16 goals and 29 points per 82 games played – modest numbers should if he can maintain them through an 82-game season.
Canadian Notes: Stolarz, Leafs, Canucks
More details have been revealed about the looming contract extension for Toronto Maple Leafs starting goaltender Anthony Stolarz. The latest reports claim that Stolarz’s next deal will land in the realm of a four-year, $16MM contract, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and NHL.com’s Kevin Weekes. That figure would come in just shy of the five-year deals recently signed by Kevin Lankinen and Karel Vejmelka, who served as comparable contracts in the negotiation process.
It’s no surprise to see the 31-year-old Stolarz leaning towards a team-friendly deal. He was a goaltending phenom for the Leafs last year, recording a 21-8-3 record and .926 save percentage through 36 games. It was an impressive follow-up from Stolarz’s 16 wins and .925 Sv% in 27 games of the 2023-24 season. But those two seasons, along with 28 games in 2021-22, were the most he’s played in a single NHL season. He has yet to prove he can stand up to a full starting workload, despite defaulting to that position for Toronto when healthy. A contract extension and bid of full health will put Stolarz in a position to prove his might over a full year as soon as next season.
Other notes from the Great North:
- Sticking in Toronto, it appears the team could soon shop around some of their surplus bottom-six wingers. Players like Calle Jarnkrok, David Kampf, and Nicholas Robertson could end up on the trade block, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period on the latest episode of Hello Hockey. Toronto is certainly facing a wealth of veteran wingers who have failed to break out of depth minutes – a growing problem as the team looks to promote top prospects like Easton Cowan. Clearing out some space could put the Leafs into position to stock the shelves, and bet on their top youngsters, ahead of a year where they’ll need big performances without 100-point scorer Mitch Marner.
- Pagnotta went on to share that the Vancouver Canucks could be one of the teams looking to reel in bottom-six talent. Vancouver is expected to lean on youngsters like Linus Karlsson and Aatu Raty, as well as depth veterans Drew O’Connor and Teddy Blueger, when the season kicks off. There’s certainly opportunity for upgrading that depth sooner rather than later, though reeling in a hardy impact could cost Vancouver valuable draft capital or a solid prospect.
Atlantic Notes: Matheson, Robertson, Bruins
Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson is in the final year of his contract and is eligible to sign a contract extension. His agent Philippe Lecavalier told Richard Labbe of La Presse that the 31-year-old is hoping to re-sign. Matheson had a breakout showing in 2023-24 when he put up 62 points, putting him ninth among all NHL blueliners in that category. However, the emergence of Lane Hutson saw Matheson’s offensive minutes drop and the end result was a drop to 31 points. Noah Dobson is now in the fold which could similarly cut into his offensive chances even more. That could complicate things on a new contract as a blueliner who logs 25 minutes a night should be eyeing a raise from the $4.875MM he’s set to make this season but with Hutson and Dobson around, the Canadiens may not be inclined to pay market value for someone who probably won’t come close to that career high offensively again with them.
More from the Atlantic:
- In an interview with Jonas Siegel of The Athletic earlier this week (subscription link), Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube declined to speak about winger Nicholas Robertson’s situation, merely noting that there will be a lot of competition at training camp. In a follow-up column to that interview (subscription link), Siegel suggests that might not be an encouraging sign for the soon-to-be-24-year-old. Robertson notched 15 goals and seven assists in 69 games last season, earning him a $1.8MM contract to avoid salary arbitration but his fit in Toronto’s lineup remains uncertain at best. He remains a player to keep an eye on when it comes to a trade over the coming weeks, especially if it looks like he’ll be on the outside looking in at a lineup spot in early October.
- Speaking with reporters at their charity golf tournament (video link), Bruins GM Don Sweeney indicated that the team will begin the upcoming season without a captain. While veterans David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy are the presumptive favorites and could plausibly be appointed now without much issue, Sweeney wants the captaincy progress to come more organically over simply appointing someone to the role now, even though one of those two could very well end up with the role down the road.
Snapshots: Robertson, Tkachuk, Draft
Despite signing a one-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs just yesterday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman spoke on his 32 Thoughts podcast about the possibility of forward Nicholas Robertson being traded and noted a link between Robertson and Pittsburgh Penguins’ GM Kyle Dubas.
This represents the second consecutive summer that the forward has been linked to Pittsburgh, and Friedman’s report comes just a day after Robertson and the Maple Leafs avoided arbitration with a one-year, $1.825MM contract.
“I’ve had a couple people ask me about the possibility of Nick Robertson in Pittsburgh. They got the arbitration settled on Saturday, but the Maple Leafs need to clear some bodies there. They have a lot of them,” he said. “I think that the Maple Leafs have work to do. I don’t know what their timeline is, but they need to do some things before puck drop.”
To Friedman’s point, the Maple Leafs currently have 14 forwards on one-way deals for next season. Robertson, 23, posted 15 goals and 23 points in a bottom-six role last season for Toronto. He added two points in three playoff games. He also averaged a career-high 12:00 per game of playing time.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- Friedman also provided an injury update on Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, who revealed after winning the Stanley Cup that he had been playing through a torn adductor muscle throughout the postseason. Friedman shared his belief that Tkachuk will miss a big chunk of the regular season, but sees a path for him to be ready for the Olympics next winter. “I think (the Olympics) is a huge deal for him. But I do think he’ll miss the start of the year and a chunk of time after that,” he said. Tkachuk, and his brother, Brady Tkachuk, played a huge role in the 4 Nations Face-Off and are expected to be a focal point of the U.S team at the Olympics if healthy.
- Despite fan (and possibly league) dissatisfaction with the decentralized draft format, teams voted to continue with it in 2026. And Friedman suggests that the decision was largely driven by teams’ desire to protect their internal information. While the vote was closer this year (20-12 in favor of keeping it decentralized), Friedman isn’t convinced that additional votes will soon push for a return to the traditional draft format. “I really thought, because of how (Gary) Bettman was opening ripping the GMs about this, I thought it was going to change,” he said. “It’s obvious to me that these teams that voted to keep it the way it is really value the secrecy.”
Maple Leafs Re-Sign Nicholas Robertson
There will be no arbitration hearings in the NHL this summer. The last remaining case has settled as the Maple Leafs announced that they have re-signed winger Nicholas Robertson to a one-year, $1.825MM contract.
The agreement comes one day after the two sides made their submissions in advance of Sunday’s scheduled hearing. Toronto filed at $1.2MM while Robertson’s camp came in at $2.25MM. The midpoint of those numbers is $1.725MM so Robertson was able to beat that by $100K with this agreement while it represents a big raise on the $875K he received last season.
The 23-year-old has shown himself to be a capable depth scorer but that alone hasn’t been enough to stay in the lineup with much consistency. After notching 14 goals in 56 games in 2023-24, Robertson was able to slightly beat that total last season, tallying 15 times while adding seven assists in 69 games. He also averaged a career-high 12:00 per game of playing time.
However, while he was in the lineup more often than not during the regular season, that wasn’t the case in the playoffs. Robertson played in just three games for the Maple Leafs during the playoffs despite picking up points in two of those outings, a goal and an assist.
The lack of consistent playing time led Robertson to request a trade last summer, an ask that wasn’t granted. At this point, it doesn’t appear as if the request has been dropped either. However, a $1.825MM price tag for a player who hasn’t been able to stay in the lineup on a regular basis might be on the high side for some teams although a swap of young forwards on similar contracts could be a viable path to a change of scenery for Robertson.
On the other hand, Toronto’s most prominent offseason addition up front to replace Mitch Marner was winger Matias Maccelli, acquired from Utah. With the Maple Leafs looking to ice a more balanced lineup, there could be a chance for Robertson to get more of a look in a top-six or even top-nine role in 2025-26 and if that were to happen, he might be inclined to rescind his request to be moved.
With the signing, Toronto has all its NHL restricted free agents under contract but they still have a pair of prospects to re-sign over the coming weeks in goaltender Dennis Hildeby and defenseman William Villeneuve. While Hildeby was arbitration-eligible, he declined to file for a hearing early last month.
Now that Robertson is signed, the cap picture for the Maple Leafs looks clearer. Per PuckPedia, Toronto has around $1.1MM in flexibility, albeit with 24 players on its roster with the maximum being 23 healthy players. That gives GM Brad Treliving a bit of wiggle room to work with while they’re believed to be looking to move winger Calle Jarnkrok ($2.1MM) and David Kampf ($2.4MM) to open up both cap and roster space. Their ability (or lack thereof) to do so might ultimately dictate if they can make any other moves this summer.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the deal.
Arbitration Breakdown: Nicholas Robertson
Every player to file for arbitration so far this offseason has avoided a hearing, and only one case even got remotely close. That likely won’t be the case for the Maple Leafs and Nicholas Robertson, who have until their hearing starts on Sunday to settle before an arbitrator’s award will decide their fate.
Filings
Team: $1.2MM
Player: $2.25MM
Midpoint: $1.725MM
(via Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet)
The Numbers
Nothing much really changed last season for Robertson. After a trade request last summer didn’t come to fruition, he ended up inking a one-year, $875K deal to return to Toronto in hopes of landing a more consistent role in their top-nine forward group. That didn’t happen. While he did make a career-high 69 appearances, the 23-year-old’s usage remained conservative at 12 minutes per game, and his point pace dropped off from his 2023-24 performance. He finished the year with 15 goals – seventh on the team – but only seven assists for 22 points, a rate of 0.32 per game after he recorded 0.48 per game the year before in lesser minutes.
The younger brother of Stars centerpiece Jason Robertson has always been viewed as one of the higher-ceiling young offensive options in Toronto’s system. He’s shown it in flashes, but it’s clear at this stage he needs a longer leash and more minutes to truly be effective without many other elements to his game (although he did manage a career-high 79 hits last year).
Whether he’ll receive that in Toronto remains to be seen. In any event, the Leafs’ seven-figure filing is significantly higher than his $775K cap hit from 2024-25, so it’s clear they’re anticipating on him playing a slightly more regular role in 2025-26 and will presumably count on him for more depth scoring in the wake of Mitch Marner‘s departure. But for a player with just over 150 career appearances, it’s going to be a tad difficult to project how a potential hearing may shake out.
2024-25 Stats: 69 GP, 15-7–22, -1 rating, 16 PIMs, 112 shots, 12:00 ATOI
Career Stats: 156 GP, 32-24–56, +2 rating, 24 PIMs, 258 shots, 11:28 ATOI
Potential Comparables
Comparable contracts are restricted to those signed within restricted free agency, which means UFA deals and entry-level pacts are ineligible to be used. The contracts below fit within those parameters. Player salaries (or current-year equivalents) also fall within the parameters of the submitted numbers by both sides. Career stats listed are as of the time of signing.
Jonatan Berggren (Red Wings) – Berggren is a year older than Robertson and has fewer seasons of NHL experience, but they’ve both clicked at around a 30-point pace for their career in similar deployment. Like Robertson, Berggren’s platform year saw him play the most games of his career, but not with the best per-game production rate. While an imperfect science, there’s good evidence for both sides here to argue for a deal closer to the midpoint rather than an extreme swing toward either Toronto’s or the player’s filing.
Contract (2025): One year, $1.825MM AAV, 1.9 CH%
Platform Stats: 75 GP, 12-12–24, -13 rating, 14 PIMs, 88 shots, 12:59 ATOI
Career Stats: 154 GP, 29-29–58, -28 rating, 32 PIMs, 200 shots, 13:01 ATOI
Sonny Milano (Ducks) – This may be the best comparable available aside from its outdatedness. Milano was also coming off his age-23 season and, like Robertson, had five years of NHL experience despite the lower games-played total. Note the higher cap hit percentage since the deal was signed five years ago – that might be something Robertson’s camp puts on the table to get him closer to or at the $2MM mark for his award (a 2.1 CH% with a $95.5MM cap ceiling is almost exactly $2MM on the dot).
Contract (2020): Two years, $1.7MM AAV, 2.1 CH%
Platform Stats: 55 GP, 7-16–23, -7 rating, 26 PIMs, 75 shots, 13:06 ATOI
Career Stats: 125 GP, 22-25–47, -17 rating, 36 PIMs, 153 shots, 12:07 ATOI
Jack Quinn (Sabres) – Quinn comes across near the higher end of these comparables. While the perception around Quinn having a down year last season may have some truth to it, the numbers still point to him being at least a tier above Robertson in terms of what he’s actually produced. Add in Quinn’s draft pedigree as a No. 9 overall pick, and it’s easier to see why Robertson’s filing wasn’t higher than it was, although his camp may still attempt to draw comparisons to convince the arbitrator to side with them outright.
Contract (2025): Two years, $3.375MM AAV, 3.5 CH%
Platform Stats: 74 GP, 15-24–39, -18 rating, 18 PIMs, 123 shots, 14:52 ATOI
Career Stats: 178 GP, 39-58–97, -26 rating, 41 PIMs, 311 shots, 14:33 ATOI
Filip Zadina (Red Wings) – Aside from the draft pedigree, Zadina’s comparable here is also a pretty direct one. He was only one year younger than Robertson was at the time of their contract signings, but had seen more deployment to the tune of similar career offensive results with worse defensive impacts. Given the cap percentage, this would come across as a more advantageous comparable for Robertson.
Contract (2022): Three years, $1.825MM AAV, 2.2 CH%
Platform Stats: 74 GP, 10-14–24, -24 rating, 10 PIMs, 154 shots, 14:11 ATOI
Career Stats: 160 GP, 25-36–61, -46 rating, 12 PIMs, 329 shots, 15:13 ATOI
Projection
Since Robertson was the one to file and has multiple years of team control remaining, the Maple Leafs can pick a one or two-year term for his next contract after the arbitrator awards the AAV. Considering his inconsistent year-to-year pace, it stands to reason they’d pick a one-year deal to make him a more attractive trade chip if he doesn’t pan out this year (or give themselves the option to walk away entirely next summer).
The comparable contracts advocate for a deal near the midpoint but slightly in Robertson’s favor, likely in the $1.8MM-$2MM range. It may not be as much as he wanted, but it still doubles last year’s salary and will give him a seven-figure salary for the first time in his career.
Image courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images.