Maple Leafs Re-Sign Nicholas Robertson
The Maple Leafs have re-signed restricted free agent winger Nicholas Robertson to a one-year deal worth $875K, per a team announcement.
Robertson, who turns 23 tomorrow, has been the subject of trade rumors ever since a report from Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic on the eve of free agency indicated he’d requested out of Toronto and had “no plans to re-sign with the Leafs this summer.” His name was also briefly mentioned in trade talks last season after a February report that indicated the Leafs were willing to listen to offers for the winger, but he wasn’t moved by the deadline.
As late as two weeks ago, Johnston said Robertson was still hoping to be moved. But last week, Luke Fox of Sportsnet said he wasn’t expecting Robertson to be traded before camp, putting a little bit of cold water on public trade speculation.
There’s still time for that suspicion to be wrong before training camps kick off around the league next week. It’s likely now easier than ever for Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving to get a Robertson trade across the finish line, with interested teams now having certainty of his cap hit for 2024-25.
But Robertson could also very well still be a Maple Leaf when opening night rosters are due. Treliving has maintained a positive relationship with Robertson by keeping in contact with him while exploring potential moves this summer, Darren Dreger of TSN reports, adding that new bench boss Craig Berube will help give the young winger a fresh start.
If he does end up sticking around, Robertson has a legitimate chance at a breakout season. While he was no longer technically a rookie, 2023-24 was his first true full NHL campaign. The 2019 second-round pick answered the bell with 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points in 56 games while averaging just 11:23 per game with minimal power play time.
At 5v5, those numbers made Robertson one of the league’s most efficient scorers last season. His 1.34 goals per 60 minutes ranked 17th in the league, putting him on par with stars like Boston’s David Pastrňák and Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor.
There will likely be some regression from last year’s 14.6 shooting percentage in 2024-25, but an increase in ice time and special teams usage under Berube should help negate a drop in point-per-game production. He was on pace for 40 points had he played all 82 games last season, a figure he could very well build upon if he begins to see spot duty in the top six. After Tyler Bertuzzi left for the Blackhawks in free agency and with Matthew Knies expected to get an early crack at first-line duties alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, there’s a second-line spot up for grabs with William Nylander and John Tavares that could be Robertson’s for the taking.
A one-year pact makes Robertson an RFA again next summer, still without arbitration rights. The Maple Leafs now have just over $400K in projected cap space with one open roster spot, per PuckPedia.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the Leafs were expected to announce a deal for Robertson today.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Maple Leafs, Mitch Marner Taking Extension Talks Slowly
Entering a contract year, there still doesn’t appear to be a ton of urgency between the Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner to get an extension done. Darren Dreger of TSN said on TSN Toronto 1050’s “First Up” today that the relationship between Marner and the Leafs is “in a good place,” but no extension news is imminent with training camp beginning next week:
I don’t want to misconstrue that with the belief that an extension is looming, that it’s going to happen quickly. Obviously, it’s going to be a top-of-mind, big story from the beginning of training camp and probably until the day that an extension with committed and announced, but I don’t have the sense that that’s going to happen any time soon. And I think both sides are okay with that. Marner knows that this is yet another big year for that young leadership group, and he’s a big part of that. So, he’s focused on a good start for himself, for his team. I don’t get the sense that there’s contract pressure on Marner. He’s happy for it to be quiet. There’s good dialogue between Darren Ferris and Brad Treliving; they’ve got a good relationship, but they’re not in heavy negotiations. Again, both sides are okay with that. There doesn’t appear to be a rush, at this stage.
Trade rumors began dogging Marner this offseason almost immediately after Bruins winger David Pastrňák ended Toronto’s season in overtime of Game 7 of the First Round. The Predators were mentioned early on as a team that would be interested if Marner decided to waive his no-movement clause, a bit of news that foreshadowed their aggressiveness on the free-agent market.
But there hasn’t been much substantive reporting on Marner’s situation for weeks, even dating back to the beginning of free agency. Thus far, there’s still been no indication that he’s considering waiving his NMC to facilitate a trade, and at least initial extension talks have begun.
Marner, 27, is entering the final season of the bonus-laden six-year, $65.41MM deal he inked as an RFA late in the summer of 2019. Since inking the contract, Marner has averaged over 20 minutes per game in every season, finishing top-10 in Selke Trophy voting twice, and averaged 1.24 points per game – eighth in the NHL during that time. A top-five winger in the league, he’s a playmaking superstar on a team full of high-powered talent.
But whether Toronto, now with Treliving entering his second season as GM and Craig Berube entering his first as head coach, will be willing to give Marner enough of a raise on his current $10.9MM cap hit to make a long-term agreement remains to be seen. The team already has over $61.7MM in cap hit commitments for 2025-26 with nine open roster spots, and an eight-year extension for Marner at this stage would likely finish in the low $11MM range, Evolving Hockey projects.
Unfortunately for the Leafs, Leon Draisaitl‘s recent eight-year, $14MM AAV extension likely bumped that number up. Marner’s 415 points over the past five years pale in comparison to Drasaitl’s 538, especially considering a similar amount of games played, but Marner is a far superior defensive talent with penalty-killing upside. He very likely won’t match that price tag, even if he does hit the open market next summer, but it could be enough to push his next deal into the $12MM range per season.
Four Teams Have Interest In Mark Giordano
The Score’s Kyle Cushman wrote that the Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Toronto Maple Leafs have maintained interest in veteran defenseman Mark Giordano. The oldest player in the NHL last year has spurned any interest in retirement and is again looking for an NHL opportunity next year.
He is destined for bottom-pairing responsibilities next year after averaging his lowest average time-on-ice since the 2008-09 season. He’s spent the last two-and-a-half years with the Maple Leafs organization where he’s recorded nine goals and 45 points in 144 games while averaging 18:14 a game.
Calgary represents more of a ‘feel good’ landing spot as the other three interested parties have internal expectations of contentions next season. He’s spent 15 years of his career in southern Alberta where he recorded 143 goals and 509 points in 949 games including a Norris Trophy in the 2018-19 season.
He’s seen his possession quality dip in the last several years after finishing the 2023-24 season with a 48.4 CorsiFor% compared to a 53.0% career average. He’s still a formidable bottom-pairing veteran presence and could provide a bonus to any team.
At the end of his career, the expectation is that Giordano will look to maximize his opportunity to win the Stanley Cup which would trim his potential teams down to Edmonton and Toronto. Without needing to shoulder top-level responsibility anymore at this stage in his career; he should have a ready opportunity in both organizations.
Snapshots: McCabe, Couture, Shattenkirk, Kaprizov, Sorokin
The Maple Leafs have begun initial talks with defenseman Jake McCabe on a contract extension, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on today’s “32 Thoughts” podcast. He’s entering the final season of a four-year, $16MM deal with a $4MM cap hit, but the Leafs are only on the hook for half of it thanks to the Blackhawks retaining $2MM per season on his deal when they traded him to Toronto before the 2023 trade deadline.
McCabe, 31 in October, has fit in seamlessly on the Toronto blue line, averaging 20:39 per game in his first entire season there last year. It wasn’t quite a career-high in ice time, but it was a career-best year for McCabe in nearly every other category, including goals (8), points (28), rating (+20), and hits (219).
While a passable puck-mover, McCabe is primarily effective as a stay-at-home piece. He averaged 2:12 per game on the penalty kill and kept his head above water in terms of controlling expected goals at even strength, the first time he’s done so in his career after toiling on rebuilders in Buffalo and Chicago. He’ll still feature heavily on a new-look Toronto defense next season featuring Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Chris Tanev.
More from around the league:
- There’s still uncertainty about Sharks captain Logan Couture‘s availability to begin the season, but Friedman said that he doesn’t get the sense Couture is considering hanging up his skates. The 35-year-old played just six games in 2023-24 due to osteitis pubis, a rare type of joint inflammation that causes pain and swelling in the groin and lower abdomen (from the Cleveland Clinic). With three seasons left on his contract at an $8MM cap hit, the 15-year veteran still hopes to be a core piece and guide San Jose’s new crop of young players through their ongoing rebuild.
- Free agent defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk still fully intends on returning for his 15th NHL season in 2024-25, his agent, George Bazos, tells Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. Bazos said his camp is in discussions with a few teams regarding his client but didn’t say whether they were regarding guaranteed deals or professional tryout agreements. Shattenkirk, 35, had 24 points in 61 games with the Bruins last season in bottom-pairing minutes after signing a one-year, $1.05MM deal in Boston in free agency.
- Leon Draisaitl‘s recent eight-year mega-deal likely has positive implications for Kirill Kaprizov as he kicks off extension negotiations with the Wild, Friedman posits. Kaprizov’s deal runs for two more seasons, and he isn’t eligible to sign an extension until July 1, 2025, but there’s already a sentiment building around the league that Draisaitl’s $14MM cap hit is a “needle-mover” for contracts handed out to superstars, Friedman said. After winning the Calder Trophy during the shortened 2020-21 season, Kaprizov has emerged as one of the league’s most consistent scorers, topping the 40-goal mark for three years in a row. He’s still owed $17.5MM on the five-year, $45MM deal he signed as a restricted free agent in 2021.
- An undisclosed injury may have had something to do with Ilya Sorokin‘s slight regression in play for the Islanders last season, Friedman said. The 29-year-old netminder still managed to finish eighth in Vezina Trophy voting, but his .908 SV%, 3.01 GAA, and two shutouts were all career-lows. He’s about to kick off the eight-year, $66MM extension he signed to stay on Long Island last summer, and Friedman said whether Sorokin checks in at 100% when training camp begins later this month will be one of the bigger storylines to watch for the Isles.
Maple Leafs Sign Marshall Rifai To Two-Year Extension
The Maple Leafs have extended defenseman Marshall Rifai on a two-year contract, the team announced today. The deal will pay him up to $1.55MM in total ($775K per season) if he’s on the NHL roster – the league minimum. PuckPedia adds that it’s a one-way agreement in both years.
Rifai, 26, signed an AHL contract with the Maple Leafs’ affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, after completing his collegiate career at Harvard in 2022. He landed a two-year, two-way NHL deal with the Maple Leafs the following summer after recording 16 points, a +3 rating, and a team-high 118 PIMs in 69 games with the Marlies in his first professional season.
The left-shot defender’s first year under an NHL contract also saw him make his NHL debut. Rifai suited up twice for the Leafs last season, posting a +1 rating, one shot, and four hits while averaging 11:40 of ice time across the pair of February contests. He also improved offensively on the farm, upping his production to 17 assists and 19 points in 57 games with the Marlies while posting 71 PIMs and a +14 rating.
Rifai would have become an unrestricted free agent next summer, a fate avoided with today’s extension. He’ll now be eligible to test the open market when his new deal expires in 2027. Attaching two additional years of term to his contract now makes it highly unlikely that a team will claim Rifai off waivers when Toronto attempts to assign him to the Marlies to begin the season.
Atlantic Notes: Peterka, Kostadinski, McCue
The NHL has ramped up its visits overseas coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, they often make an effort to reunite foreign-born NHLers with their home countries and, even in some cases, their former teams.
That’ll be the case for emerging Sabres winger John-Jason Peterka, who spoke to NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika about getting the chance to suit up in his native Germany and play a preseason game against EHC Munich of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, where he played in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
“I was always there with my parents cheering for the team,” Peterka told Cotsonika. “We were in the stands all the time. It was so special for me to play for Munich because I’m from there [and grew] up there. Yeah, having the chance now to go back there, play against them, play in front of all the fans again, yeah, it’s going to be really special.”
After their exhibition game in Munich, the Sabres will open the regular season with a back-to-back against the Devils in Prague, Czechia. It’s the start of a crucial campaign for Peterka, who’s entering the final season of his entry-level contract after scoring a career-high 28 goals and 50 points last season.
Other items of note from around the Atlantic:
- Bruins defense prospect Kristian Kostadinski has committed to Boston College, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal and NHL.com. Boston drafted the 6’6″, 220-lb stay-at-home defender in the seventh round of the 2023 draft. The Gothenburg, Sweden native spent last season at home with Frölunda HC’s U20 club and will touch down in the North American juniors circuit this season with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the United States Hockey League. The 19-year-old will head to BC for his freshman campaign in 2025-26.
- Maple Leafs seventh-rounder Sam McCue has a real chance to outperform his draft slot, opines Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff for The Leafs Nation. McCue, 19 next month, was taken 216th overall a few months ago after posting 37 points in 68 games with the Ontario Hockey League’s Peterborough Petes and Owen Sound Attack last year. But despite those conservative point totals, Ellis believes McCue has NHL upside in his game as a “high-motor winger.”
Maple Leafs Sign Steven Lorentz To PTO
Sep. 4: The Maple Leafs have officially invited Lorentz to camp on a PTO, per a team announcement Wednesday.
Sep. 3: Free agent center Steven Lorentz is expected to join the Maple Leafs on a professional tryout, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
Lorentz, 28, remains unsigned over two months into free agency after playing a depth role in the Panthers’ Stanley Cup win last June. He suited up in 16 of their 24 playoff games, scoring twice and adding an assist while averaging a meager 7:07 per game.
The Ontario native played a more limited role in the regular season when he was a frequent healthy scratch. The depth pivot saw some spot duty on the penalty kill and had only one goal and two assists in 38 games.
It was Lorentz’s first and only season in Florida. The Panthers acquired him from the Sharks in a trade last summer that sent scoring winger Anthony Duclair to the Bay Area. He’s coming off a two-year, $2.1MM deal he signed with San Jose in 2022 after being acquired from the Hurricanes in the Brent Burns trade, potentially making Toronto his fourth team in the past four years.
The 6’4″, 205-lb forward will look to prove valuable in a depth role for the Leafs during training camp in hopes of a deal, likely a league-minimum one with a one-way structure. He hasn’t been assigned to the minors since before the COVID-19 pandemic, suiting up with Carolina’s AHL affiliate (then in Charlotte) from 2017 to 2020.
The Leafs aren’t teeming with salary cap space, but they have room for a potential league-minimum pickup like Lorentz. They have $1.275MM in projected space with two open roster spots, per PuckPedia.
In 230 NHL games over the past four seasons, Lorentz has 21 goals, 22 assists, 43 points, and a -26 rating, averaging 10:47 per game. He can play both center and left-wing and has posted a respectable 48.7% win rate in the dot through nearly 1,100 faceoffs.
Lorentz will compete with more veteran depth pieces like Alex Steeves and prospects like Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten for a spot on Toronto’s opening night roster.
Maple Leafs Prospect Timofei Obvintsev Has A Lot Of Upside
Max Bultman of The Athletic believes that the length of the Detroit Red Wings contract negotiations with Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider may have cost the Red Wings some money in the long run. Raymond and Seider remain unsigned as training camps are quickly approaching and Bultman believes that comparable contract extensions signed this summer may have only increased the asking price for both unsigned Red Wings.
Bultman cites Brock Faber’s eight-year, $8.5 million AAV contract as a potential floor for Seider’s new deal and adds that he believes both players will sign new deals before training camp and that should ease any tensions that might exist. However, Bultman does note that having two young core pieces unsigned this late in the summer might not be great for team morale.
In other evening notes:
- Jim Matheson of The Edmonton Journal tweeted that he believes Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard could get a $10MM AAV on his next deal with the Oilers. The 24-year-old is set to count just $3.9MM against the cap next season in the second year of a two-year deal and is coming off a year in which he registered 18 goals and 64 assists in 81 games. The 10th overall pick in 2018 has matured into one of the most prolific puck-movers in the NHL in just five seasons and has not only produced in the regular season but has been elite in the playoffs as well with 13 goals and 45 assists in 53 career playoff games. If Bouchard does indeed get an AAV at that rate, it will make for a tight salary cap for the Oilers who will also have to consider a Connor McDavid extension.
- Steven Ellis of Leafs Nation wonders if the Toronto Maple Leafs might have drafted a hidden gem in goaltender Timofei Obvintsev. The Maple Leafs selected the 6’4” Russian 157th overall in this year’s NHL entry draft and it may have been a shrewd move given that NHL teams hold Russian players’ rights indefinitely and goaltenders tend to develop slower. The 19-year-old hasn’t seen a ton of action the last two seasons, dressing in just 28 games, but scouts are raving about his quick hands and ability to direct pucks with his blocker out of harm’s way. As Ellis points out, Obvintsev is likely years away from being NHL-ready, but the team can be patient with him and give him time to develop his game.
Canadian Notes: Robertson, Perfetti, Demko
Toronto Maple Leafs winger Nicholas Robertson has emerged as a top name on the trade market headed into training camp, following reports that he’s still hoping to start the year on a new team. But Sportsnet’s Luke Fox shared he isn’t expecting the recent momentum to spark a trade before the Leafs kick off camp, citing Robertson’s lack of much negotiating power.
Robertson’s name has floated around trade rumors since last season’s Trade Deadline and peaked with a formal trade request at the start of free agency. But nothing has come together yet, placing Robertson in a mix of young, shoot-first wingers on the trade market, alongside the likes of Arthur Kaliyev (link) and Connor McMichael (link).
Robertson played in his first full NHL season this year, though it only resulted in 56 games and a third-line role. He showed flashes of strong play, ultimately scoring 14 goals and 27 points. That brings his career totals up to 34 points, split evenly, in 87 games – commendable production for a former second-round pick and in line with Kaliyev and McMichael. That lack of distinction might make Robertson a tougher sale so close to the season. That is if the Leafs even choose to fulfill his trade request – which seems growingly unlikely as the team’s brass continues sharing excitement over Robertson’s potential in a growing role.
More notes from around the league:
- The Winnipeg Jets are one of many teams still negotiating with top RFAs, needing to work out a deal for winger Cole Perfetti after he managed a stout 29 goals and 75 points in 140 NHL games on his entry-level contract. The Athletic’s Murat Ates took to projecting what Perfetti’s next deal could look like given his minimal experience in Winnipeg’s top-six. Ates drew a strong comparison to Ottawa’s negotiations with Shane Pinto, which ultimately ended in a two-year, $7.5MM bridge contract. Pinto also has 140 games of NHL experience and 70 total points, earned while planting his feet as Ottawa’s third-line center. That’s proven a more reliable role than Perfetti’s earned up to this point, though Ates reasoned that the two are comparable enough to earn Perfetti a similar bridge deal.
- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko has reportedly returned to the ice, shares CHEK Sports’ Rick Dhaliwal, who added that the starting goaltender could be healthy enough to participate in training camp. The Canucks were previously prepared for Demko to sit out of the team’s opening camp as he recovered from a groin injury taking longer than expected to heal. That’s certainly a timely update, with Vancouver recently sharing that Arturs Silovs – Demko’s presumed backup – is also bearing through a lower-body injury. The Canucks have been connected to free agent goaltenders like Kevin Lankinen but could be waiting out Demko’s early steps back before they make any signings official.
Maple Leafs Name Steve Sullivan AHL Assistant Coach
The Maple Leafs have hired NHL veteran Steve Sullivan as an assistant coach for their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, per a team announcement.
Sullivan, 50, already has a bit of a front-office track record. Soon after finishing his playing career in 2013, Sullivan joined the Coyotes as a development coach. By 2016, he’d been named their director of player development, and one year later, he was promoted to assistant general manager.
Sullivan remained in the role, making him GM of Arizona’s AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners, through Feb. 2021, when his contract was terminated. He briefly served as the Coyotes’ interim GM in 2020 after John Chayka abruptly resigned.
Since then, Sullivan has stayed in the Phoenix area, serving in coaching roles with the U-16 and U-18 Jr. Coyotes programs for the past four years. But today’s news marks Sullivan’s first time behind a bench at the professional level.
Sullivan was a unicorn as a player, succeeding in the dead puck era as a high-end two-way winger despite being just 5’9″ and 165 lbs. He played 1,011 regular-season games over 16 NHL seasons for the Predators, Blackhawks, Maple Leafs, Devils, Penguins, and Coyotes, scoring 290 goals and 457 assists for 747 points.
Toronto acquired Sullivan in a swap with New Jersey in 1997 – he was part of the return that sent franchise cornerstone Doug Gilmour south of the border. He was pretty effective in a middle-six role with the Leafs, posting 85 points in 154 games, but inexplicably ended up on waivers near the beginning of the 1999-00 campaign. He was claimed by the Blackhawks, where he emerged as a genuine first-line threat and set career-highs in goals (34) and points (75) the following year.
Sullivan joins a Marlies coaching staff headed by John Gruden, who’s entering his second year in the role. Behind the bench, they’re joined by assistant Michael Dyck, goalie coach Hannu Toivonen and video coach Troy Paquette. Gruden guided the Marlies to a 34-26-12 record last season, finishing fifth in the North Division and bowing out in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.