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Nick Robertson

Penguins Notes: Robertson, O’Connor, Line Combinations

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Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now writes about a potential link between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nicholas Robertson. It’s not the first time rumors have surfaced about a potential Robertson to Pittsburgh trade, as Kingerski wrote back in May that the Penguins, specifically general manager Kyle Dubas, should target the undersized Maple Leafs forward. However, Robertson remains a Maple Leaf despite asking for a trade in June, and the Penguins have just under $900K in available cap space. While a move seems unlikely at this point, it should be noted that the Penguins have 15 forwards on their active roster and could likely bury an additional $1.7MM in the minors.

Kingerski writes that the Penguins could offer sheet Robertson for below $2.29MM, and the cost would only be a third-rounder, but the Maple Leafs would likely match that number and shut the door on the Robertson-to-Pittsburgh talk. It appears that the Penguins’ best option, should they want to acquire Robertson, would be to make a hockey trade using a roster player with value and perhaps a draft pick to try and pry the 22-year-old loose.

In other Penguins notes:

  • Kingerski also wrote about the Penguins’ lack of a winger for superstar Sidney Crosby. The Penguins have spent the summer trying to find someone to play with Crosby after trading Jake Guentzel at the trade deadline, and with the summer coming to an end, Kingerski believes that Drew O’Connor is likely the Penguins’ best option for the first-line left winger role. O’Connor finished last season playing with Crosby and showed glimpses during that time. The 25-year-old finished the year with 16 goals and 17 assists in 79 games, including seven goals and five assists in the final 19 games when he played alongside Crosby.
  • The Penguins acquisition of young forward Rutger McGroarty has changed the potential makeup of their forward lines (according to Dan Kingerski). The Penguins boast as many as 19 potential NHL forwards, including newly acquired Kevin Hayes, Cody Glass, and Anthony Beauvillier, and it could make for an interesting training camp in the Steel City. McGroarty could get a look alongside Sidney Crosby on the first line, but he could also slide into a third-line role alongside Hayes and Beauvillier. It isn’t even clear which side of the ice McGroarty will play on, but one clear thing is that his presence in Pittsburgh makes things very interesting when it comes to the Penguins’ forward ranks.

Maple Leafs Assign Nicholas Robertson To AHL

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With the Maple Leafs needing to make a move to open up a roster spot and free up the cap space to officially activate Calle Jarnkrok off LTIR, they’ve elected to send Nicholas Robertson down, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned the winger to AHL Toronto.

The 22-year-old started the season in the minors with the Maple Leafs taking advantage of his waiver exemption.  He fared quite well early on with the Marlies, picking up five goals and six assists in nine games with them, resulting in a recall back to the big club back in early November; he had been with the Leafs since then until now.

Robertson has played in 41 games at the NHL level so far this season, a career-high.  He has put up reasonable offensive numbers with eight goals and 11 assists in those appearances while averaging a little over 11 minutes a night almost exclusively at five-on-five.  He had been playing regularly as of late but once again, his waiver exemption likely worked against him.

Once the trade deadline passes, there are no more limits on roster sizes so depending on what Toronto’s salary cap situation looks like by then, it’s quite possible that Robertson is back with the Maple Leafs by this time a week from now if he is still with the organization at that point.  If not, he’ll have an opportunity to play much bigger minutes with the Marlies which could help him heading into restricted free agency this summer.

Atlantic Notes: Newhook, Robertson, Tarasenko

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The Canadiens are expected to activate forward Alex Newhook off injured reserve on Saturday, paving the way for him to return against Dallas, relays Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette.  The 23-year-old has missed nearly two and a half months with an ankle injury but had gotten off to a decent start to his first year in Montreal before that, recording 13 points in 23 games.  While Newhook has spent a lot of time on the wing in his career, he’ll likely play at center more frequently down the stretch following the recent Sean Monahan trade.  The Canadiens opened up a roster spot to activate Newhook earlier today when they returned Lucas Condotta to AHL Laval.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:

  • Nicholas Robertson has popped up in recent trade chatter and the Maple Leafs are believed to be willing to move the winger, reports The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta. The 22-year-old has managed to stay healthy this season, resulting in him playing in a career-best 31 games where he has seven goals and seven assists.  However, Robertson hasn’t been able to lock down a full-time spot in Toronto’s lineup.  Considering his offensive success at the lower levels, it stands to reason that several rebuilding teams would have some interest in seeing if Robertson can take a step forward with a new organization.
  • While many expect the Senators to move pending UFA winger Vladimir Tarasenko before next month’s trade deadline, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli notes that it’s not a lock that Ottawa even wants to move him. The Sens are known to be looking to add quality veterans to help their younger core and have been impressed with how he has become a leading voice in their dressing room.  Tarasenko recently changed agents again; perhaps it was on the hopes of spurring along extension talks that have yet to begin at this point.

Toronto Maple Leafs Recall Nick Robertson

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled top prospect Nicholas Robertson to the NHL lineup. This recall comes after Robertson’s red-hot start to the AHL season, where he’s scored 11 points in only nine games, good for a Top 20 spot in the league’s scoring.

Toronto is granted the roster spot to make this move thanks to the slew of injuries to their defense. They currently have four defensemen facing injuries, including Jake McCabe, who is the only one of the four to not be on injured reserve. Instead, he and fellow defenseman Maxime Lajoie have operated as the team’s two scratches. With so much roster attention needing to go to the defense, Toronto hasn’t been carrying an extra forward.

Robertson will seemingly step into that spot, although his hot start to the season could earn him a crack at the lineup. Robertson has played in 31 NHL games over the last three seasons, scoring three goals and seven points. Five of those points came in the 15 games he received last season; the most he’s played in a single NHL season. But injuries have proven detrimental to the 22-year-old winger, who missed most of the 2022-23 season with a shoulder injury. Now healthy once again, Robertson is looking to make up for lost time in his development curve and prove to the Leafs organization that he’s still the prospect that everyone was excited about following the 2019 NHL Draft.

Toronto is in need of some kind of spark. The team has 36 goals-for on the season, neatly ranking them 16th in the league. Nearly all of their scoring has come from the usual suspects, with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander being the only players to score over-10 points through the team’s first 11 games. Other than the star-studded quartet, four members of the Leafs’ bottom-six have fewer than two points – and two players have zero points – so far. Depth scoring has proven invaluable to recent Stanley Cup champions and will be a virtue that Toronto hopes Robertson can provide.

Atlantic Notes: Gostisbehere, Robertson, Davies

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The Red Wings added defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere early in free agency to help replace some of the production they lost when they moved Filip Hronek to Vancouver last season.  Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News notes that the blueliner didn’t have a ton of interest on the open market despite recording 92 points in the last two seasons which resulted in him picking the team that he thought gave him the best chance of securing a multi-year agreement next summer, either with Detroit (who gave him a $4.125MM deal) or elsewhere.  That approach worked for Olli Maatta who signed a one-year deal last summer and then inked a two-year extension back in February and it’s one that the 30-year-old Gostisbehere will be looking to follow.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Toronto winger Nick Robertson told TSN’s Mark Masters (video link) that he has fully recovered from his season-ending shoulder surgery in January and will be ready to participate in training camp next month. It has been a rough go for the 21-year-old who has battled injury trouble in each of the last three seasons.  He played in just 17 games last season between the NHL and AHL with 15 of those coming with the Maple Leafs where he had a respectable five points.  This is the final year of Robertson’s entry-level deal and with cap space expected to be limited, his cap hit of less than $800K will certainly help his chances of seeing NHL action in 2023-24.
  • Panthers prospect Josh Davies is on the move in junior as WHL Portland announced that they’ve acquired the forward from Swift Current. The 19-year-old was a sixth-round pick by Florida in 2022 (186th overall) after a 36-point, 119-PIM season.  However, Davies wasn’t able to build on those numbers in 2022-23, recording 20 goals and 14 assists along with 131 penalty minutes.  He’ll be hoping that a fresh start could help him find another gear offensively to try to land an entry-level deal from Florida by the June 1st deadline.

Nick Robertson, Mac Hollowell Undergo Surgery

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that Nick Robertson and Mac Hollowell have both undergone surgery. Robertson’s procedure was to his shoulder, and will keep him out for the next six months. Hollowell had a procedure on a fractured kneecap and will be out a minimum of 12 weeks.

It’s a brutal blow for Robertson, who has not been able to stay healthy in his pro career. The undersized forward (and younger brother of Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson) has now played just 82 total games over the last three seasons. That’s at all levels, with just 31 of them coming with the Maple Leafs.

For a player who scored 55 goals in 46 games during his post-draft year, there were huge expectations for the 2019 second-rounder. He made his NHL debut during the Maple Leafs’ 2020 bubble playoffs, and scored his first goal. But injuries have kept him off the ice since then, and inconsistent playing time has limited him to just seven NHL points.

By the time he’s ready to return next season, he’ll be 22 and quite removed from that exceptional junior season. There’s no telling whether Robertson will ever be able to live up to the potential he showed, given how much time he has missed.

Hollowell, meanwhile, made his NHL debut this season and recorded two assists in six games for the Maple Leafs. The fourth-round pick had progressed steadily through the system and appeared to have climbed considerably up the organizational depth chart.

Now, with a 12-week recovery timeline, it seems likely that he won’t get any more NHL time this season. As a restricted free agent this summer eligible for arbitration, he needs a new deal. After missing so much time, it might end up being prudent for him to accept a qualifying offer and hope to rebound from a tough injury.

Maple Leafs Move Nick Robertson And Victor Mete To LTIR

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The Maple Leafs have been using long-term injured reserve all season long and they’ve now added to that group as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve transferred winger Nick Robertson and defenseman Victor Mete onto LTIR.  They join defensemen Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin as players on there.

Robertson has been out for the last three weeks with a shoulder injury and he’s expected to be out at least three more.  Toronto would have back-dated his placement to the original injury (December 8th) so he has almost already served the ten games and 24 days required.  Robertson has two goals and three assists in 15 games with the Maple Leafs so far this season.

As for Mete, he has missed the last three weeks with a lower-body injury so he also isn’t that far off from being eligible to return.  The 24-year-old has played in 11 games so far with the big club, picking up two assists while logging a little more than 13 minutes per night.

The placements add just shy of $1.6MM to Toronto’s LTIR pool and per CapFriendly, they currently have about $7.85MM of that available.  However, Rielly accompanied the team on their three-game road trip and is believed to be nearing a return.  These placements will make it easier for the Maple Leafs to activate their top blueliner once he’s ready to return.

Nick Robertson To Miss At Least Six Weeks

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It has been somewhat of a frustrating year so far for Maple Leafs winger Nick Robertson.  Unfortunately for him, the news continues to be bad for him as Sports Illustrated’s David Alter relays that he will miss six to eight weeks due to the shoulder injury that he sustained on Thursday against Los Angeles.  However, he won’t need surgery this time around and will simply rehab the injury this time.

This is the third straight season that he has sustained a significant injury.  Two years ago, a knee issue limited him to just 27 games between the NHL and AHL and last season, a non-displaced fracture of his right fibula resulted in him suiting up just 38 times.  This setback will cost him upwards of 20 contests as well, more if he winds up being out longer than this projected timeline.

Robertson had a very strong showing in the preseason that saw him pick up eight points in five games but he didn’t break camp with the big club.  Early injuries that opted up Toronto’s ability to use LTIR landed the 21-year-old on the NHL roster soon after but he has been a frequent healthy scratch and hasn’t seen a lot of action when he has been in the lineup as he’s averaging less than 11 minutes a night over his first 15 appearances even though he has five points in those outings.

Robertson is still waiver-exempt through next season and it stands to reason that he’ll be back with AHL Toronto when he’s cleared to return in order to give him a few games to get back into playing condition.  From there, the battle to lock down a regular spot in the lineup for the Maple Leafs will continue at a time when it will be just a few weeks away from the trade deadline in early March.

Evening Notes: Robertson, Maenalanen, Cotton

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Just after getting an important veteran defenseman back from injury, the Toronto Maple Leafs may have lost another player due to injury. The Maple Leafs have announced that forward Nicholas Robertson will not return to tonight’s contest against the Los Angeles Kings due to a shoulder injury. Robertson sustained the injury after taking a hit from Kings defenseman Michael Anderson. Anderson’s hit drove Robertson into the corner, and Robertson remained on the ice for some time before heading straight to the dressing room.

Robertson has dealt with significant injury troubles recently, injuries that limited him to just 38 games played last season. Robertson has five points in 14 games so far this season, and ideally his being taken out of this game would be more of a precautionary measure than anything else. But until we get more details on the injury, any speculation on a timeline is just that, speculation. At this point, all Toronto can do is hope that Robertson’s injury is less severe than it initially seemed to be.

Some other notes from across the hockey world:

  • The Winnipeg Jets announced that forward Saku Maenalanen would not return to tonight’s contest against the St. Louis Blues. Maenalanen was driven into the boards taking a hit from Blues defenseman Niko Mikkola and immediately went to the locker room with a shoulder that appeared to be in discomfort. Maenalanen, 28, returned to the NHL with the Jets this season after a successful year in 2021-22 for Karpat in Liiga, and has six points in 24 games so far.
  • The San Diego Gulls, the AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks, announced that they have acquired forward David Cotton from the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Seattle Kraken’s AHL affiliate, in exchange for future considerations. Cotton was signed by Coachella Valley in September, and heads to San Diego having played two games for the club. Cotton is a former captain of the Boston College Eagles who scored 21 points in his first 26 AHL games with the Chicago Wolves in 2020-21.

Atlantic Notes: Robertson, Canadiens, Larkin

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The injury to Matt Murray provided the Maple Leafs with enough cap space to recall winger Nick Robertson and he made an immediate impact, scoring twice in Toronto’s overtime win against Dallas on Thursday.  On the surface, it would seem like this is at least a short-term opportunity for him to prove himself but Postmedia’s Michael Traikos posits that there hasn’t been a better time for them to trade the 21-year-old.  The Maple Leafs don’t have the deepest of prospect pools but Robertson is someone who is NHL-ready or very close which would be appealing to many rebuilding teams.  With the team in need of some help on the back end, a player like Robertson is someone they could potentially dangle to try to add that defensive help.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • The Canadiens could soon be getting some help on the injury front as TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie relays (Twitter links) that defenseman Joel Edmundson and Joel Armia both took part in practice with a non-contact jersey. Both players have yet to play this season with Edmundson suffering a back injury in a collision with Nick Suzuki in a pre-camp practice while Armia suffered an upper-body late in the preseason.  Montreal is carrying a full-sized roster at the moment so when these two are cleared to return, they will have to make some moves to open up roster spots for them.
  • Still with Montreal, the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Juraj Slafkovsky is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The first-overall pick is coming off his best game that saw him score his first NHL goal while logging over 14 minutes of ice time for the first time but it appears he’ll have to wait a few days to have a chance at his second tally.  Rem Pitlick is expected to take Slafkovsky’s place on the fourth line tonight.
  • Red Wings center Dylan Larkin left Friday’s game against Chicago briefly with an injury and while he returned, head coach Derek Lalonde told reporters including Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press postgame that Larkin was dealing with some upper-body pain postgame. He’s scheduled to be reevaluated today.  The captain is off to a strong start to his contract year with five points in four games this season.

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