Nick Robertson is finally getting bigger opportunities with the Maple Leafs – and he’s making the most of them

When Nick Robertson scored in his return from a healthy scratch against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 25, something felt different.

It had been a running joke amongst Toronto Maple Leafs fans over the past year that Robertson was a “scratch and score,” a player who never had the staying power in the lineup but always responded to a press-boxing by scoring in his following game. That narrative could have persisted with this goal against the Sabres.

But the way Robertson used his hockey IQ and small stature to jump in straight off a line change and sneak between two unsuspecting Buffalo players to position himself wide open in the slot for his first of the season showed signs of a new side to him. On top of that, he was noticeable off the puck on the forecheck and in his own zone, something that hadn’t always been in his game and received significant praise from viewers that night.

It helps that this wasn’t an ordinary return to the lineup for Robertson. Usually, he would be given his typical role in the bottom six, and nothing more would come from that. But with William Nylander out of the lineup, there was an opening in the top six, and Leafs head coach Craig Berube decided to finally see what Robertson was made of in that role, playing him alongside Auston Matthews and Bobby McMann. And since then, Robertson hasn’t looked back.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Robertson is capable of this kind of role, considering where his professional career started. He entered the 2019 NHL Draft projected to be selected late in the first round or early in the second round. Many praised his skill, especially coming off a season with 27 goals and 55 points in 54 games with the Peterborough Petes, while others doubted his small frame at the time at 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds. Many teams listened to their fears, so when the Leafs‘ first pick of that draft came around at 53rd overall, then-general manager Kyle Dubas gambled on the high upside and selected the Pasadena, Calif., product late in the second round.

It didn’t take long for Robertson to win over Leafs fans as a prospect. The following season in the OHL, he matched his previous season’s point total – in goals. Robertson potted 55 goals along with 31 assists for 86 points in just 46 games, finishing the season leading the league in goals despite all his competition in the scoring race playing at least five more games than him. And while the United States disappointed at the 2020 World Juniors with a quarterfinal loss, Robertson was solid with two goals and five points in five games, more than other American 2019 draftees selected ahead of him like Alex Turcotte and Cole Caufield.

When COVID-19 struck and cancelled the 2019-20 OHL season, Robertson could have left his season at that. But instead, he took the opportunities given to him, and as he was invited to the Leafs’ training camp ahead of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the bubble in Toronto, he impressed then-head coach Sheldon Keefe enough to not only make the team’s roster for the playoffs, but also make his NHL debut to start the play-in series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Robertson played the first four games, scored his first NHL goal in Game 3, and while he was taken out of the lineup in Game 5 for Andreas Johnsson, he already made a strong first impression. After just one year, Robertson was one of only seven players selected in the 2019 Draft to already play in the NHL, and the only one selected beyond the 22nd pick to do so. The future was bright.

However, the next three seasons saw Robertson’s development go sideways. After making the Leafs out of training camp again for the 2020-21 pandemic-shortened season, he sustained a knee injury in his season debut, which limited him to just 27 games between the NHL and AHL that season. In 2021-22, a broken leg limited him to 38 games, and in 2022-23, he played just 17 games before a shoulder injury in December 2022 ended his season. Suddenly any hope of getting the player who got 55 goals in 46 games felt slim, as the lack of playing time hindered his development.

Come 2023-24, Robertson finally had a string of good health, but he had a new obstacle to overcome: getting ice time. After failing to make the team out of camp, Robertson needed just nine games to show he was too good for the AHL, and was recalled to the Leafs. While he usually played when he was there (he was only healthy scratched in 10 games), he still felt out of place. He wasn’t good enough for the top six, but his style didn’t feel suited for the bottom six.

Robertson got some time with John Tavares in the top six but finished the season averaging just 11:23 of ice time. Still, Robertson did score at a 20-goal, 39-point pace when in the lineup (14 goals and 27 points in 56 games), and he and McMann were the only forwards outside of the top six to score more than 10 goals.

The lack of a consistent ice time led Robertson to request a trade as a restricted free agent, and while the Leafs looked for suitors, the two eventually agreed on a contract and decided to play things out until a trade could happen, especially with Keefe gone and Craig Berube taking over. But even with a fresh slate, it was much of the same for Robertson in 2024-25. He got even less ice time in the top six (only 11.5% of it was spent was spent with Tavares), only averaged 12 minutes, and was scratched for 13 regular season games and all but three playoff games. Despite all of this, he was the only Leaf outside of their top six to score more than 10 goals, this time a career-high 15. The lack of ice time continued into the start of the 2025-26, where he never went higher than 13:01 in ice time in a single game, including the healthy scratch on Oct. 24 game against the Sabres.

But as Nylander was knocked out of that game with an injury, opportunity knocked for Robertson.

The Leafs had already been looking for a solution to the Leafs’ top six after two-way phenom Mitch Marner left to the Vegas Golden Knights in the summer, so in a weird way, losing another player in that group in Nylander to injury forced Berube’s hand. In turn, they may have found the solution, at least for right now, while for Robertson, he’s finally been given the opportunity to play with better players that he’s always wanted.

“It’s my goal right now to get more minutes,” Robertson told Daily Faceoff last weekend. “I want to push to show that I can be counted on to be a top player. Obviously that comes with time, but I want to be a top player on the team. I just want to keep working to earn more minutes.”

And so far, he’s earned his spot and hasn’t looked back. In nine games since joining the top six, either playing on Matthews or Tavares’ wing, he’s put up a point in all but two, and produced four goals and nine points in that span. Also in that time, he’s behind only Matthew Knies, Tavares and Nylander on the Leafs in scoring and is tied for 32nd in the league alongside names like Sidney Crosby, Nikita Kucherov, Mark Scheifele and Marner, the player Robertson is replacing in the Leafs’ lineup.

Aside from one game against the Calgary Flames, Robertson’s never fallen below 12:30 in ice time in the last nine games, and has averaged 14:29 during this run. After never averaging more than 12 minutes of ice time in a single season, it’s a breath of fresh air.

“It’s nice,” Robertson told Daily Faceoff. “If you can get into the flow and rhythm of the game, that really just helps your confidence. It really just helps your game and feeling good about it. It’s my job to keep earning [minutes] and hopefully get more consistent ice time.”

But this shouldn’t come as a massive surprise to those who paid close attention to Robertson over the past couple seasons. While his totals in 2023-24 and 2024-25 weren’t eye-popping, a look at his rate stats would indicate that all he ever needed was more ice time to produce.

Season	5v5 Goals per 60	5v5 Points per 60	All-Strengths Goals per 60	All-Strengths Points per 60
2023-24	1.33 (2nd/16th)	2.36 (4th/t-36th)	1.32 (4th/t-46th)	2.54 (6th/96th)
2024-25	1.05 (4th/t-45th)	1.54 (10th/t-197th)	1.09 (6th/t-86th)	1.59 (10th/t-248th)
2025-26 since Oct. 25	1.55 (5th/t-45th)	4.13 (4th/11th)	1.84 (3rd/t-34th)	4.14 (3rd/18th)

Of course, Robertson’s rates this season are inflated due to a small sample size, but looking at his ranking compared to his teammates, he’s generally produced at a top-six rate outside of his assists in 2024-25. The same goes for his standing in the league: outside of his assist rates and production away from even strength in 2024-25, he’s been producing at a top-line rate over the past three seasons.

So what’s changed? If Robertson has always produced this way, why is he only now just getting consistent minutes in the top six? It’s the rest of his game that has impressed his team.

One of the most common criticisms of Robertson’s game has been that if he wasn’t generating offense and chances, there wasn’t a lot else to his game. It’s why he made such an awkward fit in the bottom six and sometimes struggled to stay in the lineup. But with the Leafs consistently trotting out Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares in the top six for most of his career, they needed an energy, heavy-forechecking forward to complement them, something Zach Hyman, Matthew Knies and McMann were more likely to provide. They didn’t need another player who only brought skill to the table.

With Marner gone, the opportunity for another skilled player in the top six is on the table, and yet that wasn’t enough for Robertson. There’s been a certain energy added to his play since he’s joined the top six, one that’s made him noticeable even without the puck. It’s not that he’s been overly physical, but he’s been feistier, which has meant that, even as the Leafs have only gone 5-4-0 since he secured his new role, he’s consistently looked like one of the best players on the ice.

“Tenacious. I think that’s one word to describe him,” Jake McCabe told the media last weekend. “He’s on that forecheck. His feet are moving constantly. He’s obviously a lethal shooter. So I just see his confidence continuing to grow, which is great to see for Nick. And rightly so, because he’s been playing really good hockey.”

“Tenacious work ethic is everything for him,” Berube said. “For me, that’s what he’s doing. It’s every shift. He has the ability to put the puck in the net with his shot, but it’s the work. He’s just working, tenacious on it, everywhere around the ice.”

That tenacity and energy have made waves on the Leafs offense, and more recently their power play. Since his promotion, the Leafs have averaged 3.89 goals per game, which is behind only the Colorado Avalanche and Anaheim Ducks in that span. And after Toronto’s power play started just 4-for-34 (11.76%) heading into this past weekend, it was Robertson’s work that earned him a goal on the second unit. That got the the Leafs out of their man-advantage slump, and they’ve since scored just as many in the past three games at a rate of 4-for-12 (33.33%). Of those four, Robertson’s unit has two, along with another goal scored on Saturday against the Boston Bruins just four seconds after a penalty expired.

“We’re in our spots, we’re moving our feet, we’re keeping it simple and trusting our instincts [on the power play],” Robertson said on Sunday.

Robertson has also given the Leafs the ability to be flexible with their top-six deployment. With six of his first eight games in this new role coming at home, the Leafs have been able to run a super line of Matthews, Nylander and Knies while being able to dictate the matchups. But as seen with their lines for Tuesday’s game against the Bruins, to avoid their opponents using the matchup advantage to hyperfocus on the super line, they can switch Nylander and Robertson to spread out the offense.

In a Leafs season mired in mystery surrounding what the lineup will look like without Marner, and one that hasn’t been off to a great start for the team, Robertson’s potential emergence could be a game changer. Whether this is sustainable is a question that still needs to be answered, as well as whether he is just a complementary top-six player or a play-driving one. But after showcasing what he was capable of early on in his career, he may finally be living up to that potential.

And with Matthews’ status up in the air after sustaining an injury in Tuesday’s loss, there may still be more room to grow – or fail – for Robertson. He certainly won’t lose minutes without the captain in the lineup, but will the shakeup mean Robertson’s not playing with Tavares or Nylander? But also, a vacancy in the top power play unit needs to be filled, and perhaps Robertson gets that opportunity. In a season where he’s succeeded with every chance to prove himself, it feels like that will only continue should Matthews miss some time.

All advanced stats come courtesy of Evolving Hockey.

POST SPONSORED BY bet365

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