“I’AM LEAVING” Center Auston Matthews has announced that he is leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs due to…..
It has been a big year for the Toronto Maple Leafs youth.
Nicholas Robertson, Bobby McMann, Matthew Knies, and Pontus Holmberg have all proven they are ready for a more significant role on next year’s Toronto Maple Leafs.
Robertson finished the year ranking second on the Maple Leafs in goals and fourth on the team in points per 60 minutes at five-on-five.
Even more impressive is that Robertson ranked 16th in the NHL in goals per 60 minutes at five-on-five among players with 400 minutes on the ice.
Not only was Robertson one of the most productive goal scorers in the NHL on a per-60-minute basis, but he also had a tremendous individual impact on the defensive end, ranking 28th among forwards in takeaways per 60 minutes (via NaturalStatTrick).
Robertson was more productive than Bertuzzi in all of the aforementioned categories and was more productive than Domi in all of them except points per 60 minutes, but that is likely due to Domi spending the latter half of the year on a line with the best goal scorer in the NHL, Auston Matthews.
Despite Robertson’s phenomenal production in limited minutes, the Maple Leafs should be able to bring him back for dirt cheap, compared to Domi and Bertuzzi, who are likely looking for a pay raise north of $4,000,000.
Robertson’s next contract will likely be between $1,500,000 and $2,000,000, which would leave the Leafs around $17,000,000 (via CapFriendly) in cap space to re-sign Liljegren, find a goalie to play in tandem with Woll and fill out the blue line with two defensemen.
