Maple Leafs take an interesting stance on Nick Robertson's trade request
Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro - USA Today Sports
A day after it was reported that Nick Robertson had requested a trade, Brad Treliving commented on it for the first time and took an intriguing stance on Monday.
Shortly after the Toronto Maple Leafs announced that they had officially extended qualifying offers to forwards Robertson, Alex Steeves, Connor Dewar, and defenseman Timothy Liljegren, it was reported that Robertson had no intentions of signing an extension and wanted a trade out of Toronto.
While a trade request is shocking in nature, Robertson's tenure with the Maple Leafs has been rocky at best, but that has more to do with injuries and inconsistencies than anything else. He has only suited up in 87 games in parts of 4 seasons with the 56 games he played in this past season representing a career-high.
After making a flurry of moves on Canada Day, Treliving was asked about Robertson's trade request, and his response makes you wonder if he's even going to entertain the idea:
"I've known there was some frustration with Nick, on his behalf. There's great opportunity for Nick, here."
"We look at Nick as an excellent player, and there's great opportunity for Nick here, and we need him to be a good player for us."
With Robertson being a pending RFA, the Maple Leafs hold a lot more leverage than meets the eye. However, keeping him around could work wonders for both player and team as the Maple Leafs did very little to address their offense on the first day of free agency. They extended Max Domi last night but were out-priced by Tyler Bertuzzi, who walked and signed with Chicago and currently have a hole in the top-9 that Robertson could fill.
Only time will tell if the Maple Leafs will honour Robertson's trade request or not, but, for the time being, it sounds like Treliving will be keeping it very close to his chest as he tries to finalize his roster after a busy couple of days.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 2 | 712 ANSWERS Maple Leafs take an interesting stance on Nick Robertson's trade request With a hole in the top-9, can Nick Robertson take advantage and become a staple in the Leafs' lineup? | ||
| Yes, he needs to be given an opportunity to shine | 447 | 62.8 % |
| No, he hasn't shown a lot when given the chance | 189 | 26.5 % |
| Maybe if he's given Matthews or Tavares as his C | 76 | 10.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
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