3 Toronto Maple Leafs Exceeding Expectations Early

1. Justin Holl – 29 years old – D

2020-21 stats – 10 GP – 0 G – 5 A – 5 PTS – 55.56 CF%

What a story it has been as well as the journey for defensemen Justin Holl. From being drafted over ten years ago, to playing in the ECHL, to playing in the AHL, and even being a healthy scratch for the majority of a couple of NHL seasons, he is now a key piece to the Toronto Maple Leafs top four on the back end.

The 29-year-old is now in his second full NHL season with the Maple Leafs and has been on an absolute whole other level with the way he is playing through ten games so far. He has been by the far the team’s best defensemen in what seems like all three zones, and for someone who is known for being more defensive, he has actually helped generate some scoring chances and has chipped in offensively on the scoresheet too.

He is currently on the second pair alongside Jake Muzzin and they act as the team’s shutdown pairing which sees them go up against the opponent’s top players every night. Although Jake Muzzin hasn’t been playing the best hockey to start the season, Holl has carried the weight of the load and they have been one of the league’s best defensive pairings with a minimum of 50 minutes played at 5v5.

Holl alone ranks top five in all three advanced analytics categories of CF%, GF%, and xGF% on the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has a 55.56 CF%, 61.54 GF%, and a 58.53 xGF% which is all amazing for a guy who is currently considered the number 3/4 guy on this team.

The pairing of Muzzin and Holl has seen a lot of top competition through ten games and as a pairing, they have done their job so far. As of February 1st, the pairing currently ranks 13th in the league with a 56.42 CF%, rank 28th with a 60.00 GF%, and lastly, they rank 15th with a 57.75 xGF%. All of those numbers are pretty good given that they’re all ranked in at least the top 30 and the fact that there are numerous amounts of different defense pairings around the league.