Leafs’ Forward Pressures Front Office With Bold Contract Move

Nick Robertson of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates a goal

Toronto Maple Leafs’ forward Nick Robertson has applied pressure on Toronto’s front office by announcing Saturday that he would be electing for salary arbitration.

The Maple Leafs have just two weeks to come to an agreement with the 23-year-old forward or else a third party negotiator will set the final terms.

This is virtually a no risk move from the young forward who made less the $900,000 in the 2024-25 season.

“Robertson currently has 32 goals and 24 assists in 156 NHL games,” wrote David Alter for The Hockey News. “Given the history, it’s not a surprise at all that the player would exercise his right to leverage for the first time in his NHL career. Finding the right value on the player will be interesting.”

Negotiations begin on June 20th should the sides not find common ground.

Nick Robertson’s Shaky History With Leafs

Nick Robertson was drafted by the Maple Leafs in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft. His first three seasons combined he skated in just 31 games. Since then, he has become a main stay bottom-six forward on a very good Leafs team.

Due to playing time concerns and disagreements with the coaching staff, Robertson requested a trade last offseason. Instead he played under a one-year, six figure deal. Perhaps with a move like this in mind, Robertson recorded a career high 15 goals this winter.

Some salt was thrown in this wound during this summer’s playoff run. Robertson appeared in just three of the 13 games. He was a healthy scratch by the club’s head coach Craig Berube despite recording two points in the three games played.

General Manager Gives Non-committal Answer on Robertson’s Future

When asked about Robertson’s future with the team on June 26th, general manager Brad Treliving was unable to provide a concrete answer.

“We’ll see how it plays out. We are in the early days here, but Nick’s a great kid who possesses a real good skill set,” Treliving said. “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.”

Robertson Contract Projection

The Leafs have already offered a $919,000 million tender to retain the forwards negotiating rights through free agency, but it is clear Robertson is looking for a seven figure deal.

AFP Analytics projects that Robertson will get just that. A two-year, 2.7 million dollar deal bringing in more than $1.3 million annually.

This would be a massive raise for the forward whose career earnings total $3,032,983, according to Spotrac. A total of just over $600,000 AAV.