He’s feeling hot, hot, hot

Stars left-winger Robertson is showing he belongs among the NHL’s elite

Jason Robertson was late to training camp after navigating a tricky contract negotiation.

The winger didn’t feel ready for the Dallas Stars’ final exhibition game, preferring to use extra practice time to get sharp for the regular season.

Robertson has not just found his stride seven weeks into the schedule. He finds himself in elite company.

The 23-year-old sat atop the National Hockey League goal-scoring race with 19, two ahead of Connor McDavid and Bo Horvat, before the puck dropped across the league Wednesday night.

Robertson has also found the scoresheet in 16 straight games, hitting the back of the net 17 times and adding 12 assists over that span, to sit three points back of McDavid’s league-leading 39 points.

The top of the 2022-23 stats page includes a lot of familiar names — McDavid, Nikita Kucherov and Leon Draisaitl among them.

Robertson is showing he belongs. Just don’t mention it to him.

“Doesn’t mean much to me,” the Arcadia, Calif., product said following a recent game.

“I’m just playing hockey.” Stars head coach Peter DeBoer joked after Monday’s 4-1 victory over St. Louis — Robertson scored his eighth goal in six games — that the red-hot sniper’s shot block at a key moment was what really stood out.

“I’ve seen the goal-scoring ability,” DeBoer said with a smile. “The shot, it should impress me — it doesn’t. But the blocked shot impressed the hell out of me. “That’s what I like.”

All kidding aside, Robertson has done more than force his way into the race for both the Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy as NHL’s top goal scorer and the Art Ross Trophy as its points leader.

He’s added his name to the Hart Trophy conversation as league MVP.

The 39th pick at the 2017 draft, who signed a four-year contract in October as a restricted free agent that carries what’s now a bargain annual average value of $7.75 million (U.S.), is on pace to register 128 points in 2022-23, which trails only McDavid (145 points) and is ahead of Kucherov (130) and Draisaitl (123).

Robertson has also scored 15 of his 19 goals at even strength — four better than Elias Pettersson for the league lead.

“Elite goal scorer,” Dallas netminder Scott Wedgewood said. “It’s been fun to watch.”

The No. 2 crease option behind Jake Oettinger with the Stars, Wedgewood gets a first-hand look at Robertson in both practice and during summer skates in Michigan.

The netminder said, while his teammate’s shot doesn’t appear out of the ordinary, he uses what’s available to his advantage.

“Some of it’s just placement,” Wedgewood said.

“A lot of the time it’s what’s available, what’s there, what you don’t see ... he’s smart with it. He’s deceptive. He can wait, change the angle,” he added.

“He’s got the tools.” Robertson, meanwhile, is simply keeping his head down and going to work.

“Teammates out there are making plays,” he said. “Just giving me the puck in the right areas, getting to the net.

“The puck just keeps going in.”

Jason Robertson sat atop the National Hockey League goal-scoring race with 19, two ahead of Connor McDavid and Bo Horvat, before the puck dropped across the league Wednesday night. DAVID ZALUBOWSKI THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

‘‘ Elite goal scorer. It’s been fun to watch.

SCOTT WEDGEWOOD DALLAS STARS NETMINDER