Is this the year for Peter Holland to finally establish himself as a full-time NHLer?
Probably. But it won’t be easy.
Holland, the 15th overall pick at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, should benefit from Toronto’s thinned-out center position. Two middle men from last season -- Jay McClement and Dave Bolland -- have signed elsewhere, and the offseason additions of Mike Santorelli (coming off major shoulder surgery) and Petri Kontiola (hasn’t played an NHL game in six years) aren’t exactly sure things.
According to Steve Spott -- head coach of the AHL Marlies -- Holland is.
“He’s an NHL centerman,” Spott said during the Calder Cup playoffs, per the National Post. “I firmly believe that. His skill set, his vision, is elite for this level. We’ll enjoy him for as long as we have him.”
How long the Marlies have Holland remains to be seen. After coming over from Anaheim last November, he bounced back and forth between the minors and NHL, scoring five goals and 10 points in a career-high 39 games for the Leafs before falling out of favor late in the season -- following a rough three-game stretch in mid-March where his ice time dipped below 10 minutes a night, Holland played just once more for the Leafs down the stretch (a 1-0 loss to Ottawa on Apr. 12) and spent most of his time suiting up for the Marlies.
Now, he’s looking to stay in the bigs all season long.
Holland has a few things working in his favor on that front. The first is his contractual status, per the Toronto Sun:
Holland is almost assured of starting the season with the Leafs. The reason? Leafs are convinced they’d lose him on waivers if they tried to send him to the minors and they aren’t willing to lose Holland at this time.
Holland inked a two-year, $1.55 million extension with the Leafs in July, the first one-way contract of his career. That should give him a leg up on the competition, though it remains to be seen how he’ll fare in the wake of heavy competition up front.
While Toronto’s depth at center isn’t all that great, there are a slew of forwards on NHL deals (15, per CapGeek) and competition will be stiff at camp. Holland will also need to establish himself in the eyes of head coach Randy Carlyle -- who, lest we forget, was the one that ultimately dropped Holland out of the lineup last year -- and prove that he’s capable of being an every-night player.
The opportunity to make the leap is there, but there’s still work to be done.
