On the CJ show, I was listening to it on the way in. He said it in a way... I keep going, no, there's going to be a resolution here. Nick's being silly. The leaves want him. He's going to stay. He's going to play games. It's fine. But CJ goes, well, right now he doesn't want to be a mapleleaf. And when he worded it like that, it was the first time I was like, anti-Nick Robertson. I was like, wait a sec. No, no, screw that guy. I hope there are zero leaves who don't want to be maple leaves.

What?

We should all hope that there are zero guys on our team that don't want to be there.

I think it's interesting that this is a Pat Breson client who is one of the biggest agents in the game and is known as... Was it him or Dawn Mian, the biggest? I guess it's Pat.

No, it's Pat. It's Pat. It's Pat. Jesse, bring up- Doesn't matter. No, no, no. Bring up how much money in contracts Pat Breson controls. It's insane.

We talked a little bit about this. We were on a shoot yesterday, the three of us, and I talked a little bit with Steve about I wanted to bring it up. I think so nick Robertson made his trade request public, or his camp made the trade request public. It's still not known who did it. I don't think it came from his agent. I don't know. I know it didn't come from him directly, so I don't know who it is. But what I'm wondering is, did he do it too early? Because if he had waited to see how the summer played out, if he walked back a trade request now, which was very public on one of the biggest days of the year, July first, you watch that back, now you look weak. Even though people move on, sometimes it is a pride thing.

I think Jake Dabruss is doing okay.

So is William okay? Yeah. Well, it's because Here's what they did with... Boston, Jake Dabruss said, Yeah, that's cool. See you in September. He requested two times to be traded, and they said no. And then he finally rescinded the trade request when they were first, and he's like, Okay, fine. I'm happy here.

The least of He also said no.

Well, and I think that's... I mean, the difference is that Robertson is not under contract. But I wonder if every player is different in every way. I think that maybe they misplayed their trade request here because maybe they thought... Well, yeah, I understand them being pissed off about being scratched in game seven. I get it. I also understand why Shell and Keef had them in the dog house for shitty defensive play, which is obvious. And I was a nick Robertson booster all last year. You guys remember that? But I have to say that I think that this was somebody acting of their own volition, a little bit of a wild card shoot from the hip moment that perhaps they would maybe want back now. Because I look at this and I go, there's no incentive for the Leifs to trade them. What do they get? Third pick, fourth pick? I think they drafted them.

I think they'd be walking to get a third.

Yeah. So that's no, not interested. If you go to the Leifs lineup right now, and it was looking like they were going to go after a guy like David Peron or some of the other wingers that were out there, Until they just flat out ran out of money, maybe keep Tyler Bertuzzi. I think that they thought they could keep Tyler Bertuzzi. I don't know how they thought that, but I think they thought they could.

I don't know how you go from, We're going to give Tyler Bertuzzi like five million bucks to, Oh, okay. Well, then we just won't make changes upfront then.

Well, I think, as you said, with Hawk and Paul here, ran out of money. But I would look at it and I would say, Let's wait and see how this summer plays out because there could be an opportunity here, and they didn't. Bertuzzi, I don't even think signed till July second.

I'm not sure. He ended up doing fine.

Bertuzzi did great. But my point is, I don't think nick knew that he had the opportunity that is now in front of him. You get to be in Toronto. The spotlight is on you. You're on Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday night. We've seen guys come here like Tyler Ennis, Mason Raymond, rehab their careers and get millions of dollars elsewhere, actually both times in Alberta, right after playing for the Toronto Maple Leaps. And those were bad leaves teams. Well, at least the Mace and Raymond one was. And I look at Robertson's thing and I'm like, Yo, man, just come in, put 18 in the net, you're going to be traded. They'll trade you. Find a one-year deal, put 18 goals in the net, play some strong defense, and try not to get lit up as much. Don't get blown up every fucking game, man. Every A single game. Nick, I really like his skillset. His skating needs work, and he gets run over like a freight train a lot.

Adam, I think you're being naive here. You know what could also happen is they could keep him. He plays really well. And instead of trading him. They offer him millions of dollars to stay.

Oh, boo. Eew. His. Gross. I hate it. What a bad result. And they need some finishers in the lineup, and he is. He's got a great shot.

What a bad result that a lot of common hockey fans are going to relate to and sympathize with.

I think they will. I think people can understand the position he's in, but I think that they overplayed their hand here.

Listen, I understand being upset at a team for taking opportunities away from you that you think you I'm deserved. Absolutely understand that. I've been young and full of fire, and I should have been ahead of this person for this opportunity. Absolutely.

I've been jealous and young, too.

But I've also been able to look ahead of me and go, There's an opening here. How old is Robertson? 22? Yeah. Isn't that half of what being 22 is? He's going, Oh, shit. I'm next up. If he were under contract and the season began tomorrow, here's what I would roll out. Nye's, top-line left wing. Robertson, second-line. I'm serious. Mcmahon third.

I think he's more suited for a third-line role as well.

He's a better overall player, but he's more suited for a third-line role. I would probably end up giving McMahon more minutes, but I would have Robertson on the second line.

More Mcminutes on the third line. I like that.

And then fourth-line, I'll be totally honest. I don't give shit.

11 Seven. There is no third-line, or fourth-line left wing. Steven Lawrence, who you refuse to do a video on.

I did. Because he's not signed.

Here's what I think.

If he signs, I'll be there like, Shit on Velcro.

Then you can talk at least like how he played in the training camp. There'll be meat on the bone for a video. Yes, I know. Adam wants me to like...

Okay, just nibble.

You had not the bone, whatever that is.

Suck out the marrow.

You guys talked about... You quickly talked about there. It's like, Oh, do you see the opportunity? At what point, Jesse and Steve last year was nick Robertson a can't fucking miss. To take that next step, you have to be the coach. You literally cannot give them a choice. At what point was he that?

He wasn't. Sorry, I got stuck on another thought. The bone marrow? But they relate. Okay. Not the bone marrow. So I'm trying to think of ways you can get angry, right? Okay. Which I can relate to. Okay. Robertson's asking out because he's angry, right? Mm-hmm. So okay, here's my strength then as a fellow angry guy. Okay, What could he be angry about? What's a situation where he goes, You know what? That doesn't.

Scratched in game seven.

Scratched in game seven. Bruin scored one goal in regulation before overtime. And what line was on the ice? The fourth. And who was out there? It was Noah Gregor. Now Noah Gregor took his spot in the lineup, if I'm not mistaken. But Robertson was never on that line. No. So I don't think it's that. But you know what would have been helpful as a way to play in game seven is if your stat line didn't read 6,0,0,0. He didn't do anything. Oh, the coach didn't play. Where should the coach have played you? You know what I mean? Okay, we talked about how he played one-Mitch Marner or something like that. He played one fewer game than Mitch Marner, but had one fewer shot. One more shot. Or one more shot. I can't remember if it was one more or one fewer. Did any of them go in? No. Were they great?

Who knows? Have to look. Go back and look.

Then we're trying to figure out the timing. You and I had a very interesting conversation yesterday because you said Robertson declared or asked for his trade too early.

I think he asked too early.

I said he asked for it too late. And the reason I say that is I think if you say it before the draft, you give the leaves. I mean, everyone's in the same building. Robertson, Robertson, Robertson. What do you all think of Robertson, Robertson, Robertson? And then you give them more opportunity to do business for you. I think if he had done that, there's a greater opportunity. There's a greater chance that some team would have traded for you rather than sign some journeyman. Yep. All the spots. If you pull up the sharks, the ducks, if you pull up the dregs of the NHL standings, you're not forcing people out.

No, you're not.

Meanwhile, there's like an almost slam dunk playoff team here. How are they going to do in the playoff? Let's be honest. We have no idea. We have no idea, but the real answer is evidence shows probably shit. You have an opportunity here. Now, where Adam and I agree, I said he did it too late.

I said too early.

You said too early. Here's the real answer. Not July fucking first.

What's the matter with you? Don't walk it. And now if he's going to play, he's got to walk it back. And then I tend to add on to this, guys, and this is where I think things get really interesting, is you have a 19-year-old Easton Kauin who is a left shooting right wing-Who's about to lap you. Who could take that top six role. If nick Robertson was going to camp, the least could probably say, You know what? Even though Easton had 96 points in 54 games for the Nites and won the Championship, he's got nothing else to prove at that level. Let's give him one more year or even two more years.

Because we don't need him.

We don't need him. We I want him to develop. I don't know where he's at in his development curve, but think about this. Nick Robertson could have that role. But if Easton Cowen goes to camp and nick Robertson is not there and Easton Cowen takes that role, guess what at least the first nine games of the season are going to look like. If Fraser Minton, who I'm convinced tops out as a third-line center, which is great. I don't know. I don't hate that.

They could use one right now.

Well, I think he's going to make the team. What are they going to do with center depth? I'm like, Fraser Minton. I look at the Easton Cowen piece this and go, nick, if you don't jump in now, that guy is coming to take your spot. And when Easton Cowen does, and I think he will, because I think this guy, from everything that I've read and heard, and every scouting reports that this guy is one of the most determined players that they've ever seen. I think nick Robertson is leaving money on the table. It's that serious. If he comes in, nick Robertson comes in and scores 18 to 20 goals, and I think he's a 20 goal scorer in the NHL. He's got flaws in his game. He's still got time to improve them. Nick Robertson is a what? Three and a half, four million dollar player at 20 goals a game?

Or 20 goals a season?

Is that crazy? And $100 million.

As a UFA, it's not crazy at all.

As an RFA, okay, maybe two and a half. Two and a half million. Sounds like a lot of money to me. I'll take it. I'll take it, especially for playing hockey. That sounds great.

nick Robertson, for me, just doesn't do enough in the box score and on the ice besides put in a couple of goals every now and again to justify everything that's going on right right now.

It's worth mentioning that a few of them were in dog shit games.

Right. No. You're going to get more ice time. Yeah. No.

He had that stretch at the end of last season where over the course of eight games, he had four goals and two assists. Awesome. But he doesn't provide much else. You don't see him fill up a bunch of blocks in the box score, a bunch of hits or anything like that. Then his judgment in terms of just his awareness, hockey sense. It needs so much improvement. He's not there yet as an NHLer. For nick, I don't understand where all of this is coming from because he's not that type of player yet.

I completely agree. And I think that's where Jesse, I think that's where this is his opportunity right now. And if Steve made a good point, if you go and you look at the other teams around the NHL, even the worst ones, this is the time. Don't fumble this. Don't fumble this because the least will I'll get you. On this one, I don't think they're messing around anymore with this.

One of the things we were talking about, okay, we were talking about getting a third for him. You're not getting a third. So if the option is get a fourth for Robertson or sit him, I'd rather fuck your career up.

That's how the least would look at it. That's how the least would look at it.

A hundred %. No, as me, I'm cheering for... I want the player to get all the money-And score all the goals. And I'm going to pretend the salary cap doesn't exist. So I hope he signs for five. Years, years and million, in case you were wondering. But that's a fairytale land that does not exist. The money that we're talking about going to Hock and Pop ought to be going to Robertson at a relatively reasonable cap hit. Connor Duhre scored at a similar goal scoring pace. We don't know that as leaves fans.

To Hock and Pa or Robertson? Robertson. Well, sorry.

With Minnesota, Robertson with the Leifs, Hawk and Pa. For some reason, all of that went away. Could have used one in game seven when he had that breakaway shit. That guy is making over... Connor Duhre is making over a million dollars.

Well, so the other thing that- Has an RFA. Yes, because he's a valuable piece of their PK, and I think they're trying to rebuild their PK. Their PK was a problem last week.

Robertson PKed in junior.

Yeah, but he- I know. At the NHL level, Robertson isn't that useful. That's what I was trying to say. He doesn't provide penalty kill help in those respects. He doesn't provide help in the other aspects of the ice. For him to sit out and expect so much more from the least, the least need to sit here and say, no, prove it to us that you are more useful to us.

The fact that Robertson isn't an NHL regular isn't entirely his fault. It's also not entirely the least's fault. It's your bones broke. You got injured and stuff. You got to run before you can walk. And some of that... One of the most, we were talking about this yesterday, and what brought it up was Nikolai Kuhlman, which I guess we'll get to. But Gus Ketsaros came on our podcast, I don't even know, years ago.

Forty years ago.

The show's probably not even still on.

Yeah, that was so long ago.

He was talking about skating and what makes a good skater. And he was I'm talking about there's players out there who look like they're working hard every shift, and maybe they are, but they look like they're working harder than everyone else because they're skating inefficient. Yeah. And the player that we used as an example was Nikolai Kuhlman, who skated like-We'll have more on him later. He skated like he kayacked.

Busy feet.

Well, just imagine someone, you know how you got a row of the kayak, right? It's not necessarily Really, the feet, it's his body is going all over the frigging place. He's got to spend so much more energy to move the same speed and same distance as someone who knows how to skate better. And I mean, Kuhlman turned, he had a fine NHL career, made a bunch of money in the Kuhl. He might be back in the NHL at 38 years old. What a frigging miracle. But like, Robertson, as a small guy, you got to be frigging fast. And I go, wow, he looks like a mini Kuhlman out there sometimes. He does. And he's such a funny fit on the leaves, a team that doesn't shoot enough.

He could be great for that.

There's so many times where I'm like, shoot that damn fuck. And then he does. He's the one player on the team you don't have to ask to shoot.

Which I love. We need-Maybe Matthews. Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't that be great? Let's say, Nielander and Matthews and Nias are playing together. You could have Winger. You could have Max Domi and Mitch Marner setting you up.

But every player on the I'm like, shoot. And him, I'm like, no, are you sure? Why? Because he's got a great shot. He does have a great shot. It's funny. There are times there was a goal last season. I'm trying to remember who it was against. It was high slot. And I remember being like, that is a low percentage shot that so few people on the planet can score the way you scored it. But you scored because your shot is a weapon. He was off balance, like one foot. I'm trying to remember who it was against. It's a bullet. The reason he shoots shots that maybe don't always look like a good choice is because he has confidence in his shot, and it's because he should. But what I'm trying to say, I was pointing out the skating, is, listen, I keep talking about the COVID factor with players drafted 2018, 1920. Who's had their development fucked up more than that kid?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And like some good, some bad. You were over a goal game in junior in what should have been your second last year in junior. He had another year of eligibility, if I'm not mistaken. Then the world stops, and they change. They literally change the rules. And the playoffs are in frigging August. And he gets to play playoff games for the leaves in a year where they technically did not qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs. And that's great. Then they changed the rules.

He also got injured.

He also got injured. Then they changed the rules again, though. You can now play in the AHL in a year where you are not eligible to. You are a North American skater under the age of 20. You are not eligible to play in the American Hockey League. Global pandemic. Guess what? That's now legal. And your contract, what was it? Slides. Your I'll see slides. So he's in the American Hockey League, I assume making a professional salary, a year ahead of when he was supposed to. So they took that opportunity away from me and this and that and that. Okay, well, let's not also lose sight of what also fell into your lap. But why he might lose sight of those things is each of his first two years as a professional got fucked up by injuries, and he played very few games. And during During that time where you weren't playing games, you weren't on the ice, and you weren't able to work on things that would make you an NHL regular today on this team. It's difficult to explain to someone who's competitive and fiery and passionate and young that you got to settle down a little bit here.

You don't want to tell a competitor in a competitive space to settle down, but he's got to settle down here.

But you can't let your ambition eat you alive either. It pushes you, but you cannot let it kill you.

It's unreasonable to ask what he's asking for when the solution is looking him dead in the face. The solution... Dude, the guys ahead of you are dude who's younger than you in Matthew Nies, Bobby McMahon, who is, by all accounts, a miracle.

He's in the NHL. He was no one. Twelve months ago, Bobby McMahon was Noah.

We were not talking about him in September.

Nobody. And look what he did with an opportunity. He was waved.

Waved. And then who else is there? Holmberg, who is not a full-time winger. No. And Duhre, who's the same? It's there, nick. And he can play both wings. We're losing sight of that. The Leifs problem at left wing, I think maybe they bring Yarn Croke over to the left. Domi can play the right. When he was with Matthews, he was playing the right. So there's an option. But it's right there. There might not be a team in the league that needs you more. And lucky you, they You're on your rights, and you won't sign here.

I don't get it. Two things. Nick Robertson's skating. According to NHL Edge, he had zero bursts over 35 km/hour last season. He is in the below 50th in 32 km burst to 35 km burst and 29 km burst to 32 km burst. He's not very fast for his position.

Does NHL Edge keep track of how many times a player got pancaped?

No, I don't think so. They don't. But based on the numbers from the NHL and their skating, tracking, he is not one of the quickest, as per Steve Dangle's assessment of his kayak skating. Other thing in terms of his shots on goal and him always getting peppered I were in shots on goal. What did you want?

Well, no, for all his flaws, I'm looking at those stats, and I know he played, what was it, 54 games, I think?

56.

56. 14 goals, 13 assists, 27 points. Gosh, darn. Yeah. That's a nearly 20 goal, roughly 40 point player in a regular season. Every team in the league needs that. Every team in the league.

The 14 goals were done on a relatively high shooting percentage. It was 14 point something %.

That's not that high.

It's not crazy high, but- It's been his goal score to be in that range. Yeah, I would expect it also to be more... He was nine the year before that. We didn't play a bunch of games, obviously. Shot developing as he gets older. I'd expect it to be in 12 range, so he knocked 2% off. What's his career? Not that big of a difference. It's a little skewed because, like I said, it was nine the year before. Oh, right. It's a little skewed. In terms of shots, shots on goal per game for nick, 1.7 shots per game. Mitch Marner, in comparison, shot 2.2 shots per I would like shots per 60 because Marner's ahead of him, shots per game.

Shots per 60, nick is probably close to double. And this isn't a criticism.

Marner is a- No, I just think it's a fun comparison on Mitch Marner, who we think should shoot more, and nick Robertson, who shoots a lot. One of the things-They're getting similar shots per game.

One of my pet projects is looking at power play shots per 60 for the leaves over the past few years and what's going and comparing it to the regular season. Marner Matthews-Tavares. Can I bring up- All plummet.

Can I bring up another name? Sure. On the left side that nobody's talking about. Give me. Alex Neelander.

He's not under NHL contract. He'll be at camp. He'll play exhibition games.

He scored 11 goals in Twitter. I know he had a bad year with Pittsburgh Penguins. I get it. Five games, no goals. 23 games, 11 goals with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Listen, he might not be the guy takes that job. Three Shia Robertson. But it's yet another person that could take what should be nick Robertson.

It's possible.