Report: Maple Leafs are open to trading Nick Robertson

NHL Insider Chris Johnston reports that there are talks around the NHL that the Toronto Maple Leafs are open to moving forward Nick Robertson.

He provided the report during Tuesday’s episode of The Chris Johnston Show, noting that a hypothetical move would be seen as one that was in the works for a long time, should it be completed.

“There’s some talk out there that the Leafs are open to moving Robertson,” he said. “Now that’s not necessarily a new development. He did ask for a trade publicly last summer,  hasn’t always been happy with his opportunity in Toronto. But maybe there’s a window here. Not saying it has to happen before camp begins, but teams start juggling the rosters around as we get through training camp and towards opening night.  Maybe there’ll be an opportunity for them to move on from him or one of those other players in order to create a little breathing room on that roster.”

The other players that Johnston was alluding to were David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok, who have also been in trade rumours throughout the offseason though no move appears imminent at the time of filing. The reason that these three players are on the block is due to the logjam up front and the fact that they each have some value on the trade market, though Robertson is likely the most valuable because he is the youngest.

As far as what kind of return the Leafs would want in a potential Robertson deal, Johnston said that the team wants to get some additional assets to set themselves up down the line.

“ One thing in Toronto is the cupboards relatively bare because they’ve been a trade deadline buyer for season, after season, after season,” he said. “I think they’re in a position to be open-minded about the return. It’s about getting what they deemed to be fair value. But if it’s another young player, if it’s a draft pick, presumably it’s something that they can use to potentially make future trades as well.”

The idea of the Leafs moving on from Robertson is not a surprising development as Johnston noted earlier. He put in a trade request last summer that proved to be unsuccessful before agreeing to a one-year extension prior to the start of training camp. While Robertson was able to move on from the trade request as he made the NHL roster out of camp, he was unable to gain a strong foothold in the lineup and barely played in the playoffs. He then elected for salary arbitration this offseason and was the last one to have his decision reached, but ended up signing a one-year, $1.825 million extension on August 2.

That aforementioned re-signing has not guaranteed that his future with the team is secure, as it feels like a similar situation to where things stood a year ago in that his spot in the lineup isn’t entirely clear. Head Coach Craig Berube was asked by The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel about where he sees Robertson fitting in, and the bench boss didn’t address the player by name and instead noted that it’s going to be a competitive camp.

“We’re always looking,” GM Brad Treliving said on September 3. “I don’t think you ever stop. Whether it happens or not, we’ll see. We’ve got a lot of bodies right now, so we’ll see. More than likely, unless something changes, we’ll go with what we’ve got and see where it all sorts itself out.”

Robertson being on the move does not appear to be imminent at this time, but the fact that he is reportedly on the trade block suggests that his days as a Leaf are numbered.