Robertson can show his worth

Often the odd man out, forward now has new opportunity with new coach

- DAVE FESCHUK

Now requiring waivers to be shipped to the AHL, Nick Robertson is staring at his best opportunity to carve out a significant role in Leafland, Dave Feschuk writes.

It has been more than four years since Nick Robertson flashed his talent by scoring his first goal with the Maple Leafs in the pandemic playoffs against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

And while plenty of time has passed since that heady moment, one thing hasn’t changed. The Leafs have never really shown much trust in Robertson, especially when the games matter most.

Back in 2020, Robertson played the opening four games of the series against the Blue Jackets but was scratched from a winner-takeall Game 5 in favour of Andreas Johnsson. Thanks to a combination of injuries, poor performance and a lack of organizational belief, Robertson hadn’t played a postseason game since that moment until this past spring. And even after Robertson played the opening six games of Toronto’s first-round series against the Bruins, when it came time to draw up the lineup for Game 7, Robertson was the odd man out. Noah Gregor was a preferable option.