Ex-Leafs defenseman succeeding in his first season outside of Toronto; did the Leafs make a mistake?
One of the benefits of Kyle Dubas' exit from the Leafs front office is that several of his pet projects were finally let go by the Maple Leafs. Most notable among them was Justin Holl, who Dubas signed to an AHL deal way back in 2015-16. After being scratched for a ridiculous 71 games by Mike Babcock in 2018-19, Holl became a full time NHLer when his Toronto Marlies coach, Sheldon Keefe, took over as Leafs head coach.
In four years as a regular in the Leafs lineup, Holl never truly showed that he was more than a fringe third pairing defenseman, definitely not worth more than the $2M per season that the Leafs were paying him. When his contract ran out in Toronto, he was signed as a UFA by the Detroit Red Wings. The legendary Steve Yzerman paid Holl a whopping $3.4M per season over the next 4 years.
Even though Holl was a healthy scratch for 1 of the Wings' 6 games so far this season, he is still in sole possession of the league lead in plus minus. Yes, you read that right. At +9, Justin Holl is the NHL's leader in plus minus, which sort of begs the question, should the Leafs have held on to Holl?
My personal opinion is that letting Holl go was the right decision. However, I'm not sure paying John Klingberg $4.15M to replace him was the best option. Klingberg reminds me a lot of Tyson Barrie when he was with the Leafs; offensively gifted, but bad enough defensively to be a net negative. Holl may not have been a great player, but his defense-first game and penalty killing ability were a good fit for the team. Klingberg may be the better offensive player, but I don't believe that the Leafs are a better team for having him on the roster to replace Holl.
There are a lot of things to consider when attempting to discern whether or not the Leafs made a mistake by letting Holl walk and signing Klingberg in his absence. Obviously, the team wasn't successful while Holl was in Toronto. There's also the fact that Holl is locked up on term while Klingberg is a UFA at the end of the season.
The logical conclusion here is that if the Leafs were going to let Holl walk and bring someone else in, there may have been better options than Klingberg at $4.15M. However, they made the move they made and we won't truly know whether it was a wise move or a poor one until the playoffs have come and gone.
| POLL | ||
23 OCTOBRE | 300 ANSWERS Ex-Leafs defenseman succeeding in his first season outside of Toronto; did the Leafs make a mistake? Who would you rather have on the Leafs this season? | ||
| Klingberg ($4.5Mx1) | 178 | 59.3 % |
| Holl ($3.4Mx4) | 66 | 22 % |
| Too close to call | 56 | 18.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
