{"id":94938,"date":"2025-08-25T03:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T03:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/94938\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T03:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T03:40:08","slug":"robertsons-kings-bruins-hockey-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/94938\/","title":{"rendered":"Robertsons, Kings, Bruins, Hockey Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Robertson brothers get plenty of attention in this edition of the PHR Mailbag.\u00a0 If your question doesn\u2019t appear here, check back in last weekend\u2019s column<\/a> while we have one more to run from our latest call for questions.<\/p>\n

bottlesup: As a Stars fan, I would prefer to keep Robertson under any circumstance; if things took a turn for the worst, though, what do you think a theoretical trade package would look like in return?<\/p>\n

I know Jason Robertson<\/a>\u2019s name was out there in trade speculation but that felt more like a speculative way to fix a cap problem that only would have been created had they made a big splash in free agency.\u00a0 And given that there were very few core players who made it to the open market, I think the idea of trading him was more hypothetical than realistic.\u00a0 That is, for now at least.<\/p>\n

If we look ahead a year, Dallas is still going to be tight to the cap ceiling.\u00a0 Yes, nearly $28MM in cap space per PuckPedia<\/a> for 2026-27 sounds great but with Robertson and potentially Thomas Harley<\/a> heading for double-digit AAV contracts, things are going to get pretty tight pretty quickly.\u00a0 But that\u2019s a \u2018problem\u2019 they can kick down the road to next summer when he\u2019ll be a restricted free agent so I wouldn\u2019t be worried about a trade just yet.<\/p>\n

Now, as to your hypothetical, that could go a few different ways.\u00a0 If they want a top-line forward back that just makes a bit less money, it could be close to a one-for-one swap.\u00a0 I think that would be their Plan A.\u00a0 Plan B would be a second-line winger making around half of Robertson\u2019s projected cost (so the player would be in the $5MM to $6MM range), a top prospect who is nearly NHL ready (think someone around Mavrik Bourque<\/a>\u2019s readiness as of a year ago), and some help on the right side of the defense that would take up most of the rest of the savings.\u00a0 Basically, fill two important roster spots for the price of one with near-term help coming from the prospect as well.\u00a0 There\u2019s always a futures-based return but they\u2019d have to have something in place to replace Robertson before they could do that.<\/p>\n

Having said all that, I think they find a way to keep Robertson in the fold long-term unless things don\u2019t go as planned this coming season and GM Jim Nill decides a roster shakeup is needed.<\/p>\n

bigalval: What are the chances that the Kings could bring Jason Robertson back home? I know they have interest in him and Dallas is near the cap. What would it take to get him?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s address the cap stuff first.\u00a0 There is a relatively easy way for Dallas to open up the year with a bit of flexibility on the cap and that\u2019s with not carrying a full roster.\u00a0 If they carry just 22 skaters, they should easily start with a little over $1MM in flexibility, barring any injuries in training camp.\u00a0 They can shuttle Lian Bichsel<\/a> down on off days with paper transactions (they\u2019re still legal this season before the restrictions come for 2026-27) as well so I don\u2019t think they\u2019re in a spot where they have to move money right now.<\/p>\n

As for the Kings, they\u2019ve burned up most of their cap space this summer from GM Ken Holland\u2019s spending frenzy in free agency where he brought in a bunch of extra depth.\u00a0 Per PuckPedia<\/a>, they have less than $3MM in cap room while Robertson makes $7.75MM.\u00a0 They\u2019d have to send out a good chunk of money to make a move.\u00a0 That makes adding him without taking away a core piece extremely difficult.<\/p>\n

If we look at the scenarios above, I think we can rule out a futures-based return simply because Dallas probably can\u2019t acquire a Robertson-level replacement elsewhere at this time of the offseason.\u00a0 But let\u2019s see if there\u2019s a fit in the other two scenarios.<\/p>\n

First, the player-for-player type of swap.\u00a0 Kevin Fiala<\/a> makes slightly more than Robertson this season but he has three more years left on his contract which would be appealing to Dallas.\u00a0 But there\u2019s a notable drop-off in production between the two so Dallas would want more.\u00a0 The hope is that Quinton Byfield<\/a> is on the way up development-wise but one-for-one, he\u2019s not going to cut it for the Stars either.\u00a0 Up front, there isn\u2019t anyone else worth even considering in a one-for-one swap; Adrian Kempe<\/a> had more points than either of them but as a pending UFA, he could be commanding something not far off what Robertson could get next summer in restricted free agency.\u00a0 Unless Los Angeles adds something substantial to either Fiala or Byfield, it\u2019s probably not a great fit.<\/p>\n

The problem is that their Plan B scenario that I mentioned earlier is an even lesser fit.\u00a0 Players like Trevor Moore<\/a> or Alex Laferriere<\/a> are the players making around half of what Robertson is now and they barely hit 40 points last year.\u00a0 That\u2019s too steep a drop-off.\u00a0 In terms of a prospect who\u2019s near-ready, there\u2019s not a lot that fit the bill.\u00a0 Brandt Clarke<\/a> is a little past that but he might be the closest that would be palatable.\u00a0 And as for proven RD help (not just prospect RD help like Clarke), they just lost Cody Ceci<\/a> so they\u2019re probably not trading back for him and Drew Doughty<\/a> isn\u2019t going anywhere.\u00a0 Basically, if I were Nill, I\u2019d ask for Clarke as the add-on in a Fiala or Byfield swap and keep it simple.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a steep price for the Kings to pay.\u00a0 Robertson would certainly help Los Angeles but I think there are some other teams whose rosters might better align with what Dallas might be looking for if they do move him.<\/p>\n

Spaced-Cowboy: I\u2019m more curious about a different Robertson but my Leafs bias is showing.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s give the other Robertson some attention now.\u00a0 Nicholas Robertson<\/a> recently signed a one-year deal worth $1.825MM to avoid salary arbitration.\u00a0 But it doesn\u2019t do a whole lot to avoid any of the speculation surrounding his future with Toronto.\u00a0 He still doesn\u2019t really fit the roster, especially the direction that GM Brad Treliving appears to be taking it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On the other hand, trading him would have been easier a year ago than it is now.\u00a0 Last season, he made $875K, barely above the league minimum and an amount that could be buried in the minors if things didn\u2019t go well and he cleared waivers.\u00a0 But $1.825MM isn\u2019t as easy to get off the books.\u00a0 Fewer teams have that type of flexibility to absorb the deal in full while if they\u2019re making a swap of young players in need of a change of scenery, expectations will be higher since the other team is parting with someone of at least some value.\u00a0 Robertson only has 56 points in his NHL career thus far and while he has shown a quality shot, he doesn\u2019t do enough to play in the top six and the rest of his game makes him an iffier fit in the bottom six.\u00a0 How many teams out there have a top-six spot for him where he could potentially thrive?\u00a0 Do any of them?<\/p>\n

With that in mind, while the fit isn\u2019t great and Robertson probably wouldn\u2019t mind being moved, I don\u2019t see anything changing for him in the future.\u00a0 For better or worse, he\u2019s probably staying on Toronto\u2019s roster and hoping to get some top-nine minutes.\u00a0 In that scenario, I expect this season will be a lot like the last two and we\u2019ll be speculating about the potential of trade again before too long.<\/p>\n

VonBrewski: Don Sweeney is selling a \u201cBridge Year\u201d??? More like a flaming bag of dog crap\u2026.Will they be a top-10 pick? I think yes.<\/p>\n

Is he really selling a bridge year?\u00a0 I think his public statements are more along the lines of intending to be a playoff team while a bridge year would be one where they actually took a step back and looked toward the future.\u00a0 Basically, something like they did at the deadline last season but over a full year this time around.<\/p>\n

Frankly, I think a bridge year would have made more sense for them over what they did this summer.\u00a0 In a vacuum, most of the contracts they signed made sense beyond Tanner Jeannot<\/a> but they put a lot of time, effort, and money into making their team tougher to play against when that wasn\u2019t the reason that they missed the playoffs last season.\u00a0 They missed the playoffs last year because of their struggles to score offensively, coupled with a subpar showing from Jeremy Swayman<\/a>.\u00a0 Viktor Arvidsson<\/a> could help with the offence but adding more fourth-line depth in Sean Kuraly<\/a> and Michael Eyssimont<\/a> over more scoring help felt like patching a weakness that wasn\u2019t really there.<\/p>\n

I do think they will have a top-ten pick although it will be closer to tenth than first.\u00a0 Getting Hampus Lindholm<\/a> back and having a full season from Charlie McAvoy<\/a> will help and I expect Jeremy Swayman to bounce back.\u00a0 That will raise the floor of this group above the other bottom feeders.\u00a0 But it\u2019s hard to see the Bruins scoring enough to win consistently.\u00a0 They\u2019ll get some 3-2 victories along the way, sure, but teams near the bottom of the league in goals generally don\u2019t make the playoffs and I suspect they\u2019re going to be near the bottom of the league in that regard.<\/p>\n

Gmm8811: Now that the Hockey Canada trial is over\u2026how long do you think Bettman will make the players wait to be reinstated? I\u2019d like to see them allowed back now. They\u2019ve paid a fair penalty already for being found not guilty. Do any of their former teams still hold their rights?<\/p>\n

There was actually a notable event earlier this week on that front with TSN\u2019s Rick Westhead reporting<\/a> that the not guilty verdict for the players wouldn\u2019t be appealed.\u00a0 Theoretically, had there been an appeal, that could have been enough for the league to say they were still ineligible pending the outcome of that appeal.\u00a0 But that won\u2019t happen now.<\/p>\n

Having said that, I don\u2019t think Gary Bettman has much appetite to reinstate those players anytime soon.\u00a0 The statement<\/a> released by the league indicates that they have concerns over the conduct of those players.\u00a0 To quickly turn around and clear them to play after that statement would be surprising.<\/p>\n

While these aren\u2019t direct comparisons, I think back to how things were handled with Joel Quenneville and Stan Bowman.\u00a0 Some time elapsed and then as a team wanted to at least seriously consider hiring them, the reinstatement process was handled very quietly behind the scenes.\u00a0 When he was still with Montreal, Logan Mailloux<\/a> went through a similar process where he was ineligible to play and then when he was entering a season where it looked like he could be a recall candidate, he went through the approval process and all of that was done without an announcement.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure their preference is to follow a similar process here, let some time pass by and then consider reinstatement if and when a team indicates to the league that they\u2019d like to consider signing one of them.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure the NHLPA will let that much time go by but I don\u2019t expect Bettman and the NHL to willingly reinstate the five players quickly.<\/p>\n

As for the rights question, all five players were non-tendered by their now former organizations at the expiration of their contracts, making them unrestricted free agents.\u00a0 They\u2019ll remain UFAs until they\u2019re reinstated which I don\u2019t expect will be anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Robertson brothers get plenty of attention in this edition of the PHR Mailbag.\u00a0 If your question doesn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,11295,2368,82],"class_list":["post-94938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-phr-mailbag","tag-pro-hockey-rumors-originals","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}