By Dave Feschuk

Copyright thestar

If it’s another training camp in Leafland, of course Nick Robertson is scoring goals.

He scored one in Sunday’s pre-season-opening win in Ottawa. He scored one in the intrasquad scrimmage that preceded it. Last year, he scored five in four pre-season games to lead the team. Scoring is one of Robertson’s two specialties.

His other? Contract years. This will be his third straight.

Which is only a little odd because it’s been more than six years since the Maple Leafs drafted Robertson in the second round. And you’d think over that time the team might have come to a decision on their feelings for the 24-year-old winger from California.

On one level, it doesn’t seem that complicated. Robertson’s strengths and weaknesses are pretty well defined. He is gifted with the rarest of skills. Over the past two seasons combined in Leafland, only Auston Matthews has scored at a higher five-on-five rate. Robertson’s per-60-minute output at five-on-five outstrips that of a long list of marquee NHL players. Last year, he had 15 goals in 69 games playing a mere 12 minutes a night. The year before that, he had 14 in 56 games playing even less.

Yet there probably isn’t a proven scorer in the sport with more to prove. He’s on a one-year deal after agreeing to a pre-arbitration contract that’ll pay him $1.8 million (U.S.). He was on a one-year deal last year. And the year before that, he was in the final year of his entry-level contract. NHL teams have a lot of control over young players. In the case of Robertson, the Leafs have used it.

“Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise that you’ve got to work. It’s a contract year; I think it’s my third one,” he was saying last week as training camp opened. “But my mentality’s no different. If I sign an eight-year deal or a one-year deal, my mindset is working hard and coming in and proving myself.”

Robertson, mind you, has never been afraid to voice his frustration. Asked last week about a 2025 playoff run spent mostly in the press box — he played in just three of 13 post-season games — he struck a defiant tone.

“That’s a question for (head coach Craig Berube). Obviously, I wanted to play,” Robertson said. “I don’t like being out of the lineup. So the thing for me is to just keep doing what I’m doing. I know my hard work’s going to pay off. I’m just sticking to what I do best, and that’s working hard and sticking to my strengths.”

If continuing to do what he’s been doing was sufficient, of course, he’d be a Berube mainstay.

There’s never been a question of whether Robertson can shoot the puck in the net. It’s about what he’s doing when he’s not.

Is he winning puck battles? Robertson said he worked on those this summer. Is he a defensive liability? Of the 18 Leafs who’ve played the most over the past two seasons, Robertson ranks dead last in defensive-zone starts at five-on-five, which could speak to the trust level of two different coaching staffs.

Still, the Leafs produced precisely four goals combined in their final four playoff games last spring. Robertson potted one in the only one of those games in which he played. The Leafs have long been begging for scoring when it matters. They have never seemed sure Robertson can be trusted to be on the ice to provide it.

“He scores goals and he’s definitely a part of this team, and we’ll see where he fits,” Berube said last week. “Camp will sort that out and see where he fits. So right now, I can’t tell you exactly where he’s going to play, and I can’t tell you where a lot of guys are going to play.

“I’ve got to see how they look and where they fit. But I think he’s a valuable player and we like Nick.”

Fit is an issue. Toronto’s forward ranks are awfully crowded. And maybe a trade’s coming. Still, if they couldn’t find one last year when he was earning $875,000, what are the odds they’ll be able to find one now that he’s making more than twice as much? It’s not impossible. Circumstances are always changing. And neither is it impossible that, with the right combination of timely play and/or timely injuries, Robertson could end up proving he’s getting closer to the player the Leafs want him to be this season.

One thing seems certain: The Leafs are loath to just give him away. If there’s an outcome that would possibly look worse for the Leafs than Robertson living on the edge of the roster in Toronto, it’s Robertson filling the net and thriving somewhere else.