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The Vegas Golden Knights are mentioned as a possible landing spot for disgruntled Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nick Robertson.
Robertson is a pending restricted free agent and has asked for a trade from Toronto as he has grown frustrated with his lack of playing time through the years. The 22-year-old reportedly has no plans to sign another contract with the Maple Leafs and Adam Proteau of The Hockey News thinks the Golden Knights are a logical landing spot for him.
“Landing Robertson would give Vegas a boost in their middle-six group of forwards. The Leafs would be satisfied with one of the Golden Knights’ second-rounders (they have all three second-rounders in the next three drafts), and Robertson would be much closer to home than he is in Toronto,” Proteau wrote.
“The Leafs might settle for a decent prospect instead of a draft pick, but whatever the case may be, Vegas would be adding a potential 20-25-goal-scorer without taking anything off the NHL roster, and Toronto would dispose of an unhappy camper and open up a roster spot for a youngster such as Easton Cowan or Fraser Minten. It’s a win-win for both teams, and that’s the kind of deal that often gets made in hockey’s best league,” Proteau added.
A trade to Vegas does make sense as the Golden Knights saw Chandler Stephenson, Jonathan Marchessault, and Anthony Mantha all leave in free agency. So, Vegas needs to add another skilled forward to their top six which Robertson can be.
Robertson was drafted 53rd overall in the 2019 NHL draft but has only skated in 87 regular season games over parts of four seasons. In those 87 games, he’s recorded 17 goals and 17 assists for 34 points.
Maple Leafs GM Has No Plans Of Trading Robertson
Although Robertson has asked for a trade, Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said he doesn’t want to move the 22-year-old.
Treliving believes Robertson is an important player on their roster and is someone he wants to re-sign for the 2024-25 NHL season.
“Certainly, I have known that there was some frustration with Nick on his behalf. But we look at Nick as an excellent player, and there’s a great opportunity for Nick here, and we need him to be a good player for us,” Treliving said to the media on July 1. “I’m not going to get into any speculation or any public back-and-forth. We’ll just leave it at that and continue to move forward.”
If Robertson does re-sign with the Maple Leafs he would project to be the team’s second-line left winger.
Golden Knights Having Lackluster Offseason
Vegas has had a lackluster offseason as the Golden Knights didn’t have much cap space to work with.
When free agency opened, Vegas saw Marchessault, Stephenson, Alec Martinez, William Carrier, Mantha, and Michael Amadio all leave in free agency, as well as the team trading goalie Logan Thompson.
In free agency, all the Golden Knights have done is sign depth forward Zach Aston-Reese, forward Victor Olofsson, and goalie Ilya Samsonov to backup Adin Hill.
Vegas currently has just over $1.3 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly, so the Golden Knights still have a bit of room to add a player or two.
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