The Toronto Maple Leafs announced this morning that they re-signed Justin Holl to a three year contract.
If you told me a year ago that the Toronto Maple Leafs would be bringing Holl back for three years, I would have likely assumed it to be a league minimum deal.
And could you blame me? He spent most of last season riding the pine, only dressing for 11 games.
This season, however, has been an entirely different story. And it earned him a three year extension with an AAV of $2 million a year. And for the way Holl has played this year, he deserves it.
Toronto Maple Leafs Re-Sign Justin Holl
Holl has had a number of different defense partners, but his game has been at it’s best while he’s been on Jake Muzzin’s right side.
He carries a corsi percentage of 53.8% which is good for third among Toronto Maple Leafs defensemen and overall he’s been one of the best all around defensemen for the Leafs this season.
Primarily being used in a shutdown role alongside of Muzzin, Holl has demonstrated most if not all aspects of being a good two-way defenseman, and he’s been able to contribute some offense as well with 11 points in 38 games.
His path to where he is now has been interesting to say the least. He was called up for a short stint in 2017-18 and dressed in two games in which he scored in both. Following this, he was promptly sent to the AHL.
Last season, Holl spent the entire year with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Problem is, he was left to rot on the bench for most of the season and didn’t look good in the limited appearances he had.
This obviously makes sense since he wasn’t getting consistent playing time.
This season was a different story, as the departures of Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev as well as Travis Dermott’s injury to start the season left the Leafs no choice but to give Holl playing time to start the year.
He started the season alongside Rasmus Sandin, before getting a few looks with Morgan Rielly and finally finding himself as a lock alongside Muzzin.
Looking ahead, this is a great signing for the Leafs. The Toronto Maple Leafs know exactly what Holl is and Holl seems to know that the Leafs know what he is as well.
The two million AAV is very team friendly and pretty much guarantees Holl a spot on the Leafs in the coming years, especially with the possibility of Tyson Barrie leaving following this year.
Holl has seemed to be a “diamond-in-the-rough” type of player for the Leafs, and it will be interesting to see what his role with the Leafs is down the road.