Nick Robertson Saga Takes Interesting Turn for the Maple Leafs

While a lot of attention was placed on pending UFAs like John Tavares and Matthew Knies, as well as the departure of Mitch Marner, one player who slipped under the radar was Nicholas Robertson.

The 23-year-old forward has endured a rocky tenure in Toronto over the last few years that included requesting a trade request last summer before the Toronto Maple Leafs stood firm and signed him a one-year deal.

Fast forward nearly a calendar year and Robertson is one of 11 players league-wide that has filed for salary arbitration. 3 players having not filed in defensemen Bowen Byram and Cam York, as well as forward Jack McBain.

That bit of information is crucial because the RFAs who do elect for arbitration are no longer subject to potential offer sheets, whereas players like Byram and McBain, who remain RFAs, are still able to sign offer sheets.

For the Maple Leafs, that allows a little more time to figure things out on the Robertson front. They can continue to negotiate contract details upon their hearing date, which will be held sometime between July 20th and the 4th of August.

The former second round pick from the 2019 draft has just 32 goals and 56 points in 156 games across parts of 5 seasons.

David Alter of The Hockey News mentions that the "walkaway" number coming out of arbitration is $4.85 million, at which point the Maple Leafs can choose not to agree and allow him to become an unrestricted free agent. However, it seems highly unlikely that it gets to that dollar amount.

For the time being, both sides will be looking to hash things out and figure out what the best path forward is. Considering the need for wingers at the moment, the Leafs could surely use Robertson heading into the 2025-26 season.