Keefe's comments on Nick Robertson point to him sticking in the NHL for the long haul

Were it not for a pair of significant injuries in back-to-back seasons, it's entirely possible we'd have seen Robertson up with the big club already and perhaps he wouldn't have looked back. However, the injuries did occur and Robertson's fate was to remain in the AHL. There was also a lack of maturity in his game preventing him from sticking at the NHL level. Robertson had a knack of trying to do too much and was clinching his stick just a little too hard trying to make things happen. The end result, of course, was that he couldn't make things happen and he played the majority of last season in the AHL.

Now, after lighting the league on fire during the preseason, Robertson appears ready to go and head coach Sheldon Keefe sees something in him this year that he hasn't yet seen from the now 21-year-old; growth and maturity.

After being edged out by Denis Malgin for a roster spot out of camp, mostly due to the fact that Robertson is exempt from waivers while Malgin is not, Robertson now finds himself with a golden opportunity to put his head down, work hard and hopefully be rewarded for his efforts. As long as he isn't white-knuckling his stick the way he was in his previous stints as a Leaf, he should be able to pick up right where he left off in the preseason.