Sheldon Keefe taking a lot of heat for putting so much trust in one of his blueliners
It doesn't come as a surprise for Toronto Maple Leafs fans that defenseman Justin Holl has been victimized all series long. The 31-year-old has had a rough series against the Tampa Bay Lightning so far, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. With Holl not on the ice, the Leafs have outscored the Lightning 18-4 while he has been on the ice for 14 goals against - out of 20 so far in the series.
The Maple Leafs made plenty of moves ahead of the trade deadline and are very deep on defense and I think it's finally time for Sheldon Keefe to stop coddling the veteran and get someone else in there as soon as possible. It's always a tough decision to bring in a player who has yet to play and in such an important moment in the series but as the members of OverDrive talked about yesterday, it can't get any worse.
Brian Hayes went into why Holl should be scratched and he made some very solid points:
"I think he's gotta come out, personally. It's inexcusable to keep playing him. They are winning the series 18-4 when he's not on the ice. He has been so bad, the statistics have been so bad, the eye test has been so bad. I don't know how you could argue for him anymore. He tries to make a big play that leads to the tying goal 30 seconds later. I think he was riled up by the crowd, that's on Keefe though, why you put that pairing on when they've been shelled all series. I know Liljegren struggled in the final 8-10 games - he did - and I get that he hasn't played in awhile but prior to the deadline he was really solid. He was good, he was mobile, I don't think he could get worse is what I'm saying."
Timothy Liljegren had a better regular season than Holl, is more mobile, better suited for the game the Leafs are trying to play, and doesn't need to do too much with the likes of Mark Giordano, Morgan Rielly, Luke Schenn, T.J. Brodie, and Jake McCabe ahead of him.
Former Maple Leaf, Frankie Corrado, goes a different route saying the Leafs should go 11/7:
"I would actually go 11/7 right now because if you can play Justin Holl 12 minutes instead of 18 minutes and you have some penalty kill, even though there wasn't a lot of penalties in that game. But he can serve a purpose on the penalty kill and you don't have to overextend at 5 on 5... mitigate the risk."
Sheldon Keefe might've finally come to his sense as Holl was seen skating during the optional skate, while Liljegren was not, which is usually an indication of the latter getting into the lineup over the former. However it has happened before - this same exact scenario - but then Keefe still dressed Holl.
The Leafs need to take care of business tonight to get the Lightning off their backs and it starts with scratching Holl and moving forward with the other skilled defensemen you have at your beck and call.
