The Leafs held strong on Nicholas Robertson over the summer and finally inked him to a new contract this week:
At just 1 year and $875K, I think this is a deal that works for both sides from a business standpoint. Robertson doesn’t want to play for Toronto long term, that much is clear, while the Leafs don’t want to trade him for pennies on the dollar. At 22 years old he was on pace for 20 goals and over 40pts this season. While those numbers are positive, speculation is that Brad Treliving floated Robertson’s name in trades and there was little to no interest from other teams. The obvious reason is that Robertson has a history of major injuries and hasn’t cemented himself as a regular NHLer up to this point. By this time next year, if Robertson remains healthy throughout this campaign and builds on those numbers, he could be worth much more on the trade market. While I expect him to be a Leaf this season, after the bell rings to end the 2024-25 campaign I fully expect that he’ll be sent elsewhere to continue his career. While those are my expectations, they’re not shared by everyone:
While I agree that it’s easier to trade a player that already has a contract, especially a league minimum deal, I just don’t feel like Robertson holds the trade value to justify a move. If he was worth enough to trade he would have been moved, even without a contract. Maybe he could be a deadline deal, but I’d be surprised if he’s gone before that. With a couple of other signings, which we’ll speak about first, it’s tough not to imagine that some type of deal isn’t on the horizon though:
The Leafs have finally made the addition of Jani Hankanpaa official, but it’s obvious that something went wrong since the beginning of the summer. What was reported to be a 2 year deal with a caphit of $1.5M per season has now officially been registered as a 1 year contract with a $1.47M caphit. While most are hoping that this addition pushes Timothy Liljegren out of the lineup, my own guess is that fan favourite, Simon Benoit, should now consider himself to be the 7th defender. I fully expect the pairings to open the season to be Rielly/Tanev, McCabe/Liljegren and Ekman-Larsson/Hakanpaa. Again, just my own personal opinion, but I don’t believe they signed Liljegren to the deal they did just to ride the pine to begin the year. I believe that at his age and with his experience, they’re setting him up for a make or break season and a top 4 role will be awarded to him. Did he earn this? In my opinion, no. Does that matter? In their opinion, no. I did predict that Liljegren will have a good/great season this year, so let’s all hope that I was right on that front.
I’m not a fan of this addition, but you can’t deny the experience that Pacioretty brings. I simply don’t think that he’s the right type of player for this team right now, but also recognize that the type of guy I’d like to add isn’t likely available (big, mean and skilled). Let’s hope that Patches manages to stay healthy and gets back to his previous form. With 4 goals over 47 games last season with the Capitals, you can’t blame a guy for having doubts about the ability of the player to get things done.
According to puckpedia.com, with 13 forwards, 7 defense and 2 goalies, the Leafs have about $30K in capspace. That isn’t enough to turn Pacioretty’s PTO into a 1 year contract, so capspace is going to have to be cleared. At the moment all eyes are on David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok. If either of those players were moved the Leafs could add Pacioretty as well as Steve Lorentz. The obvious problem with moving either of Kampf or Jarnkrok is the fact that the Leafs’ forward group is already thin in terms of trustworthy penalty killers and both fit that role. Further subtractions to an already poor PK unit might be ill advised.
If Robertson and his $875K is moved, then Pacioretty can be added with the same caphit. Maybe Frank Seravalli is on to something after all. It wouldn’t be the first time I have been wrong.
One last player that could be moved, though it doesn’t solve anything in terms of capspace, is Pontus Holmberg. A player without a defined role, Holmberg hasn’t brought the offensive chops to impact the powerplay, the defensive chops to impact the penalty kill, the physicality or energy to swing the momentum in a game or, really, anything at all to justify taking another players spot in the lineup. I know some people are big fans, but for the life of me I can’t understand why. At the moment he’s who I’d have as their 13th forward and the only reason I could see them keeping him is the fact that he might be able to pass through waivers, giving them a little more depth within the organization as a future call-up.