Will playing in the Olympics propel Josh Ho-Sang into the Toronto Maple Leafs line-up for the playoff run?
Although the Olympics won’t have NHL players this year, getting named to Team Canada’s Olympic roster is still a big moment for Josh Ho-Sang.
The former first-round draft pick has had his shares of up’s and down’s, but his skill was never questioned.
In 53 career NHL games, all with the Islanders, Ho-Sang’s performance has been good, as he scored 24 points, but he could never do anything to crack a roster full-time.
As a result, he decided to take his game oversees, before getting a call from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a professional try-out (PTO).
Ho-Sang Deserves an NHL Opportunity
As previously mentioned, this isn’t your typical Olympics, but if Ho-Sang wasn’t saying and doing the right things this year, he wouldn’t have been invited. His mindset and mentality to get better and finally return the NHL has shown through his play with the Toronto Marlies this year.
Spezza on Ho-Sang getting Olympic nod: "We're proud of him of him, he's a guy that's worked hard to change the narrative around his game."
— David Alter (@dalter) January 25, 2022
As you can see by Jason Spezza’s remarks above, the big-club cares about him. You probably wouldn’t think that the Leafs players would be paying close attention to the Marlies, but since both team’s practice in the same facility, it’s more than likely a tighter organization than many others.
In 20 games with the Marlies this year, Ho-Sang has 11 goals and 20 points. His offensive abilities have been in full-effect and he’s shown why he was such a highly-touted prospect eight years ago.
If Ho-Sang can be a high-performer for Team Canada this year, Kyle Dubas should seriously consider signing him to an NHL contract to get him into the line-up for the playoffs.
The team can sign him after the regular season to an NHL contract and by doing so, it won’t effect the salary-cap as there is no salary-cap in the playoffs. Having him on the roster as someone who can jump into the line-up and ignite some offense will be important if the depth isn’t performing.
The right-wing position is already heavy, especially now that William Nylander is playing on the third-line, but injuries always happen and Ho-Sang should be the next-man up.
Ho-Sang’s slowly turning his career around and things look to be going in a great direction. Hopefully he can continue that path in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization and be an impact player for the big-club sooner than later.