Columnist image

TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

| Archive

TORONTO — The day after Maple Leafs’ rookie Nick Robertson played in his first NHL exhibition game, head coach Sheldon Keefe was still not ready to answer the question he’s heard on repeat for weeks: Is Robertson going to make his true NHL debut in the Leafs’ upcoming qualifying-round playoff series against Columbus?

“I think what you can read into [the situation] is we continue to believe in him,” Keefe told reporters on a Zoom call from the NHL’s Eastern Conference Hub at the Royal York Hotel on Wednesday. “And he hasn't had any lapses here that have made us second-guess giving him that opportunity. We haven’t made any decisions. [But] we continue to believe in him and believe there's reason to continue to give him reps in [a top-nine] spot.”

Despite lacking any professional hockey experience to date, the 18-year-old Robertson is parlaying a spectacular 55-goal season with the OHL’s Peterborough Petes into a postseason audition with the team that drafted him in the second round, 53rd overall, in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

As soon as the NHL’s return to play plan was up and running in June, Robertson joined the Leafs for Phase 2’s voluntary workouts to become acclimated with their program. Shifting into Phase 3’s training camp, Robertson turned a slow start to the proceedings into a perch on the Leafs’ third line, with Alex Kerfoot and Kasperi Kapanen.

That’s where Robertson skated in Tuesday’s 4-2 preseason win over the Canadiens, finishing with one assist in 10:11 of ice time. Taking it all in after the fact, Robertson is pleased with how he’s handling himself in the big leagues.

“Playing in junior, you never know what your calibre is as an 18-year-old,” Robertson said. “Especially going through those [training camp] practices and these scrimmages and the exhibition game last night, it just proves to myself that I can keep up with [NHL players]. I've got a lot to learn but I definitely made an impact [in the game] and I can learn a lot still and as time goes on, I'll definitely mature for sure.”

Robertson had the secondary assist on what would be Kerfoot’s game-winning goal against Montreal, and while there were no fans in the stands to cheer the accomplishment, Robertson felt a boost in himself regardless.

“My confidence level is getting higher and higher each day,” he said. “Everything is a lot better than what I was exposed to [before]. Being thrown in with good players during camp definitely helped my ability and just comfortability as well. As far as my [potentially] playing Sunday, I know my comfortability and my confidence will be a little bit higher after [the game] and these next couple practices for sure.”

Toronto only had the one tune-up on its calendar before Game 1 of its best-of-five series with Columbus rolls around on Sunday. But that brevity of schedule doesn’t necessarily put more pressure on Keefe to announce Robertson’s future; it just gives him more time to assess the teen’s preparedness for meaningful hockey.

“I think he's in a good place [confidence-wise]; he’s not a guy that's short on [that],” Keefe said. “He’s shown that all the way through camp, that he believes in himself and he goes out every shift and tries to make the most of it, and that's what we like about him. I thought there were some really good positive signs in his play [on Tuesday], and I think he showed well in that sense [of being confident] so that was a positive thing to see from him.”

Robertson has earned plenty of praise for his work ethic from teammates since Phase 2 began, so it was no surprise to them he could translate it well into a game setting.

“He's a very impressive young kid to step right into this situation,” said Kerfoot. “Obviously never having played at this level, having only a couple of weeks to practice, I think he's been outstanding. You can just see that whenever he's on the ice how good he is and how good he's going to be and he's a lot of fun to play with.”

“I thought he looked pretty good,” added Kapanen. “I think our line did a good job [on Tuesday] too. He brings a lot of energy. He was shooting the puck, he was making plays, he got an assist. So for his first game, it was a good one.”

What Keefe still has to sift through are the other players around Robertson also vying for a spot in the Leafs’ lineup come Sunday. Pierre Engvall started Tuesday’s game centering the fourth line but didn’t play a shift in the latter half of the second period or the third, being replaced by Frederik Gauthier.

Throughout camp, Keefe was sliding Robertson, Engvall and Gauthier in and out of spots in the bottom-six. Unlike the latter two players though, who Keefe knows from coaching them with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies from 2015-19, Robertson was Keefe’s “wild card” in all this.

So while Engvall and Gauthier had their minutes sliced to 4:56 and 7:30 respectively in Tuesday’s game, it wasn’t totally a reflection on where they stand with the coach.

“We dressed 13 forwards [against Montreal], and it's really difficult to play 13,” Keefe explained. “We have a lot of guys there that need to get minutes and I had to make a decision. I gave Pierre his opportunity early to get going and Gauthier didn't have much opportunity early on and then I just kind of flipped it in the second half. It had to be that way just because you make sure that the players that need to have regular rhythm and to really get a lot out of the exhibition game [do that].”

Now Keefe’s attention is solely on maximizing these remaining days before Toronto faces the Blue Jackets, at which point he’ll finally have revealed what’s next for Robertson.

“Despite the fact that we don't have any more [exhibition] games here, we haven't made any final decisions,” Keefe reiterated. "I still have some days here to consider different things and as I've maintained throughout this, it's more than just Nick. We have other decisions to make about other players and how everything fits. And some of those decisions impact Nick. It's more than just his individual situation but rather what's right for our team and what's going to give us the best opportunity to win Game 1.”