As Maple Leafs' Nick Robertson plays some of his best hockey, should he get more ice time?
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Joshua Kloke
With peskiness and two key assists, Robertson torched the Devils in a 4-0 Leafs win with one of his best games of the season.
TORONTO — Nick Robertson saw what was barreling down in front of him and didn’t run.
Instead, the 5-foot-9 Maple Leafs winger stood tall.
With the only two NHL coaches Robertson has ever had watching up close, Robertson moved the puck from the wall and then stood up, encroaching on 6-foot-4 Devils defenceman Brenden Dillon.
Dillon hit the ice and nearby fans hit the roof in appreciation of the smallish winger’s moxie. Robertson’s first NHL coach, now New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe, had a front row seat to how that hit led to sustained offensive zone time and energy from Robertson’s Leafs teammates in the third period.
Even from the other side, Keefe may have liked what he saw, as it was a play the Robertson of 2023 never would have made.
With that kind of peskiness and two key assists, Robertson torched the Devils in a 4-0 Leafs win with one of his best games of the season. The two assists made for five points over a three-game point streak for Robertson. He is looking like a vital piece for the Leafs, even if his usage doesn’t reflect it.
Now, Robertson’s game on its own shouldn’t take away from arguably the most spirited Leafs performance of the season. Joseph Woll moved nimbly through all 33 saves that made for his first shutout of the season. The Leafs got strong defensive efforts from Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jake McCabe as part of a well-orchestrated defensive game from the entire team. Matthew Knies made quick work of Devils captain Nico Hischier in a feisty third-period fight while adding an empty net goal of his own. Bobby McMann played with consistent speed, led the Leafs with six shots on goal, and was rewarded with the game-winning goal. It was the kind of comprehensive and unrelenting performance the Leafs haven’t put up enough this season.
And it all happened without two of the Leafs’ stars: Auston Matthews and William Nylander are day to day with respective injuries.
“Everybody contributing. Everybody did their job,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said of the win. “That’s the one thing I take away from it: everyone was bought in.”
Yet it’s that last piece — that the Leafs were without their two most potent offensive weapons — that should provide an opportunity Robertson clearly deserves right now.
Robertson has elevated his game with the best play of his NHL career. Everything Robertson’s two NHL coaches have wanted to see from him, he’s showing: When Robertson makes defensive errors, though there are fewer of those these days, he uses his speed to promptly recover. There’s a feistiness and physicality in his game that makes Robertson look equal parts puck hound and pest as much as the pure shooter he was early in his career.
“(Robertson) has played pretty well all year, in my opinion,” Berube said of Robertson postgame. “It’s not much more than he always does. He skates, he works, and he is more confident as a player. He is scoring and making some plays, so it’s great to see from him. The work is always there. He always works and skates well. To me, he is more confident with his puck play.”
And the offence isn’t just coming when games are out of reach for either team. Robertson’s two points against the Devils came on the first two Leafs goals of the game.
It certainly feels like we’re witnessing the next step in the career of Robertson.
**“**I just think, at the end of the day, it’s ice time,” Robertson told The Athletic on Tuesday after being asked what he’s doing well as of late. “It’s touches. It’s the trust from (Berube) to be out there. I just want to be a contributor. I wanted to be an effective player, and when he gives me the opportunity and sees I’m pretty good at the game, I think he’ll like it.”
It’s a step so many wondered if Robertson would ever take. But he is, and those who have watched him closely see it. Robertson’s own teammates awarded the Leafs’ WWE-style wrestling belt as player of the game after his performance against the Devils.
“I just think I’m playing with confidence,” Robertson said. “I think getting good chemistry and playing with the same line mates, especially a centreman, helps a lot. So you get used to them, get comfortable with them on the bench and talk about what you see.”
Yet for all the highlights in Robertson’s game, he still wasn’t able to show them as much as he deserved: as the Leafs need offence without Matthews and Nylander, Robertson played 14:22, seventh among all Leafs forwards. His game has taken off, but that 14:22 is still something of a high-water mark.
With an opening in the lineup, a natural question has emerged: What else does Robertson need to do to get more ice time for the Leafs? You can’t argue that more Robertson wouldn’t benefit the Leafs and that he doesn’t deserve a bump in his shifts.
Because some of the numbers surrounding Robertson’s usage are startling.
Despite now sitting sixth in scoring among all Leafs forwards (19 points in 37 games), Robertson’s 12:41 ATOI is 11th among all Leafs forwards. Robertson’s 2.24 points per 60 minutes (all situations) is fifth among Leafs forwards. Only the expected names have produced at a better clip: Nylander, John Tavares, Matthews and Knies. Those 2.24 points per 60 minutes are in the range of forwards such as Elias Pettersson, Vincent Trocheck, Timo Meier and Joel Eriksson Ek, all of whom are logging at least 19 minutes or so a game on average this season.
Robertson logged a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 7-5 win over the Ottawa Senators, but still played a measly 9:52.
“You can only have so much confidence and also rhythm and flow in the game (when you’re not playing a lot). When you’re playing 10 minutes compared to like, 15-plus, it’s a little different,” Robertson told The Athletic in November.
Another one of Robertson’s best games of the season came on Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings. Energy, defensive peskiness, playmaking and a crucial (and skillful) early third-period goal to take a lead: Robertson’s game had it all.
And yet after that third-period goal, Robertson was given just three shifts, two of which were around 30 seconds in length. No overtime shifts either, which was curious considering the heater Robertson was on.
“I don’t think I was a different player when I was playing 10 minutes,” Robertson said in November. “I think it’s just different because you’re out there more. You’re getting in the rhythm, you’re getting touches on your stick, you’re in the (offensive zone for faceoffs) more (often).”
Then there’s Robertson’s power-play time.
The Leafs power play has been a train wreck this season, but things appear to be turning for the better under the guidance of Leafs assistant coaches Derek Lalonde and Steve Sullivan. And it’s worth wondering how — especially with the short-term absence of Nylander and Matthews — Robertson isn’t logging time on the top unit. Robertson had a primary power-play assist on Bobby McMann’s first-period goal against the Devils. And with a second-period power play just expiring, Robertson sent a smart and forceful pass toward the Devils’ net that was eventually redirected by Nicolas Roy for a goal. (It’s worth noting that Robertson drew the penalty, too.)
Without Matthews and Nylander, the Leafs continue to roll out two pass-first forwards on the flanks of their top power-play unit: Max Domi and Matias Maccelli. Both have logged more total power play time than Robertson on the season. Yet Robertson has more power-play points than Maccelli. At the very least, mixing Robertson in as a shooter in the place of one of the two playmakers in Maccelli and Domi feels like a prudent move.
Again, it’s difficult to argue that Robertson doesn’t deserve to be in the mix for more power-play opportunities.
Asked if his game against the Devils was a reminder of what he could do with more ice time, Robertson said, “For sure. I think I proved that especially early on when I was playing with (Matthews).”
Yet Robertson can clearly contribute when he’s not playing with Matthews, as his most recent stretch has shown.
But now, Nylander and Matthews’ respective status for the near future seems up in the air.
“Hopefully, everything subsides a little bit more, and we will see if he can get on the ice tomorrow,” Berube said of Matthews postgame.
There’s an opportunity for Robertson. He’s looking like a key piece for the Leafs’ hopes to climb back up the Eastern Conference standings. Whether his ice time reflects that remains to be seen.
“Obviously, (Berube) has got to make decisions; we have so much talent on the team,” Robertson said. “But when my name’s called, I want to be a contributor. I think I have that in me.”