Robo’s return: How Jason Robertson seamlessly slid back into the lineup in Game 1

Game 1 was the perfect return to play for Jason Robertson.

The Stars’ leading scorer for the past three seasons, the 25-year-old winger has been pushing hard to improve his defensive game and be a more complete player. So in coming back from missing all of the First Round because of a lower-body injury, Robertson’s chore was to play smart.

“I got my feet wet and didn’t make any big mistakes,” Robertson said. “I tried to keep it simple and then build on it.”

That has been the key for Robertson this season. At his heart, he is a guilt-free offensive player who mostly wants to upstage opposing goalies (and sometimes his own, in practice). But after having offseason surgery on his foot, he had to come back with a few limitations and adjust his game.

Robertson had 28 points (9 goals, 19 assists) in his first 36 games this season. Once he got up and running, he had 52 points (26 goals, 26 assists) in the final 46 games. He ranked seventh in points and fourth in goal scoring in the NHL during that span.

“It took some time,” Robertson said earlier in the year. “I’d never really had injuries before, so there was an adjustment period. I had surgery, and that was tough.”

His latest injury only required three weeks of rehab, so that should make things easier. In his first game back, coach Pete DeBoer said he liked what he saw.

“He did a good job for us,” DeBoer said. “It’s not easy jumping into this series when you’ve been sitting on the sideline. I thought he gave us some really solid minutes. I like how physical he was, he threw his body around and won some board battles. We kept his minutes at a pretty reasonable level for a first game, but he’s just going to get better and better.”

Robertson played 13:44 on Wednesday in a 3-2 win over Winnipeg. He averaged 17:48 during the regular season, second most among forwards. He also was a regular on the left side of Roope Hintz, and that could change now that Hintz is playing with Mikko Rantanen and Mikael Granlund. But the fact that Robertson is more versatile now opens the door for him to be helpful in a lot of ways.

“That’s always the big thing, getting offensive players to appreciate winning hockey – that they still can create offense by doing the right thing with the puck,” DeBoer said. “I think he’s really an underrated defensive player. He doesn’t cheat, he’s really hard and heavy on pucks, he’s more physical than people give him credit for. He doesn’t get enough appreciation for what he does on that end of the ice.”

Robertson is listed at 6-3, 207, so he definitely has the size. He also is one of the team’s smartest players. That said, he uses a big part of his intelligence trying to create offense.

“That’s Robo in a nutshell, he’s a shooter,” said defenseman Thomas Harley. “He’s a boost to our forward group, hopefully he can score.”

Robertson can definitely do that. He was the team’s leading goal-scorer this season with 35 in 82 games, and leads in every major offensive stat in the DeBoer era. In the past three seasons, Robertson has 269 points (110 goals, 159 assists) in 246 games. That’s a points per game average of 1.09. He is tops in power play goals (31), power play points (88) and shots on goal (755), so he’s kind of a big deal.

But he also understands the importance of team play and balance. After watching Rantanen go crazy in the past four games with 8 goals and 6 assists, Robertson said the hope is that all of the players can feed off of that positive momentum.

“I’m coming back in the lineup, hopefully we get Miro [Heiskanen] back in the lineup, everything else will start to build,” Robertson said. “I think everyone’s playing great. Everyone’s getting opportunities, chances. [Rantanen] is a premiere player. He gets good bounces and I’m sure everyone else will get good bounces, too. He’s working hard, everyone else is working hard and I’m sure everyone in here is itching to take the load off him but we’re happy to take his performances and we’ll just find ways to win.”

And that’s always been the key for Robertson. Yes, he loves the points and goals and shots on goal, but he definitely loves the wins more.

“Robo understands through two long playoff runs the importance of details this time of year,” DeBoer said after Game 1. “To his credit, he came in and stuck to the game plan and contributed in a lot of little ways that maybe didn’t show up on the scoreboard but helped us win a hockey game.”

And that was just the first step. Now, he hopes to look a little more like himself as the series goes on. He’s earned that with his work in the gym over the past three weeks.

“It was definitely frustrating,” he said. “It was one of those things that just happened. I had that thing over the summer, but I didn’t miss any games and certainly didn’t miss any playoff games. Building into the playoffs, it was definitely tough. I knew I had to work hard in the gym, try to get back as quick as I can and these guys did their job and gave me a chance to play. I just have to keep building off this game and try to improve some aspects and get on a roll.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.