Maple Leafs’ Nick Robertson’s arbitration hearing reportedly set for August 3rd

Robertson is coming off of the closest thing to a full season he’s had in pro hockey to date, with 15 goals and 22 points in 69 games. He signed a one-year contract prior to the 2024-25 season worth $875,000, after requesting a trade before rescinding it to sign the extension.

Robertson had fallen out of favour with then-head coach Sheldon Keefe the year before, but general manager Brad Treliving made it clear the team preferred to keep him and give him a shot under incoming head coach Craig Berube. Robertson set a new career high in goals and developed a little bit of an edge to his game, but struggled with inconsistency during the season and only suited up for three playoff games.

Treliving kept things pretty mum when asked about the team’s plans for Robertson, who was once again a restricted free agent (RFA) following the 2024-25 season. However, he did acknowledge the young forward’s skillset and implied that the team would like to keep him around if possible.

“Yeah, Nick’s a good player,” Treliving said in June. “Again, we’re in June, the puzzle has to come into place. But I think Nick is a good player. He’s still a young player, he’s still an evolving player, but he’s got a skill set and he shoots it in the net. That’s a good skill set to have.”

No stranger to an offseason in limbo, Robertson will head into the season looking to compete with a plethora of new forwards for a job on the 2025-26 roster. With Michael Pezzetta, Dakota Joshua, Nicolas Roy, and Matias Maccelli all joining the team in recent weeks plus the likes of David Kampf, Calle Jarnkrok, and Bobby McMann returning, Robertson will need an exceptional training camp to crack the roster full time. If he can’t, he could be a candidate to be used as trade bait.

Other players set for arbitration hearings include Seattle Kraken forward Kaapo Kakko, New York Islanders forward Maxim Tsyplakov, and former Maple Leaf (now Buffalo Sabre) Conor Timmins.