Even at the start of the season, when he entered as the seventh defenseman with just two NHL games attached to his ledger over six years after being drafted, Matthew Robertson believed he could be in this spot for the Rangers. He trusted in his abilities — the ones that allowed the defenseman to be a second-round pick in the first place — and knew that, over the course of a season, a lot could happen.
Robertson took a different path to becoming a regular on the Blueshirts’ blue line. It wasn’t like Braden Schneider, who debuted as a 20-year-old. It wasn’t like Adam Fox, who debuted at 21 years old.
Robertson, now 25, had to wait until he was 24, and it took until the Rangers’ current campaign to carve out a consistent spot in Mike Sullivan’s lineup. But he has now skated in all but 10 of the Rangers’ games this season, emerging as a piece of their lineup who, at the very least, could contribute again next season for a retooling organization with a year remaining on his deal.
“I don’t know if relief is the right term,” Robertson told The Post recently, “but I’m just trying not to be comfortable with where I’m at. I’m just trying to get better each day and not try and get satisfied. I mean, it’s hard to make the NHL but even harder to stay, so for me, just trying to get better each day and try to carve out a role to be an everyday-er here in the NHL.”
