The Most Likely Outcome in the Maple Leafs, Nick Robertson Saga After Abitration Filings Exchanged

The relationship between the Maple Leafs and skilled young winger Nick Robertson has been a strained one in recent years, but after playing a career high 69 games last season, it's clear that the California native still has a place on the team.

Robertson had requested a trade last summer before a conversation with Craig Berube led to the former 2nd round draft pick rescinding his request an earning a spot on the team on opening night.

Now, however, Robertson finds himself staring down an arbitration hearing with the Leafs on Sunday with the potential to have an arbitrator decide his salary.

On Friday, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Leafs and Robertson had submitted their official salary filings. All things considered, their numbers were not too far apart, which could mean that there's one outcome that is more likely than actually going through with the hearing; reaching a settlement.

With Robertson and the Leafs just $1.05M apart in salary, it seems increasingly likely that the two sides will split the difference and meet in the middle. If that does occur, we could see Robertson ink a deal in the neighborhood of $1.75M.

Robertson produced 15 goals for the Leafs last season, which is a new career high after scoring 14 goals in 56 games in 2023-24. With the way he's been trending, there's certainly a good possibility that Robertson could score 20 goals this season, if he manages to remain on the active roster all season and does not find himself back in the press box as frequently as he has in recent years.

What do you think the outcome will be this weekend? Will the Leafs come to terms with the RFA winger on a new deal, or will it go all the way through the salary arbitration process? Let us know in the poll below.