Toronto Maple Leafs 2021-22 Defenseman and Goalie Grades

Justin Holl

Justin Holl finished the season with three goals and 20 assists for 23 points in 69 games. Those aren’t bad totals for a player who doesn’t get power-play time and isn’t expected to score.

He found himself out of position a lot last season. The penalty he took in Game 7 against the Lightning was a season-ending dagger to Leafs fans. John Tavares’ game-tying goal got disallowed due to Holl’s penalty, but realistically, that penalty should never have been called, and it is rarely called, and as such, Holl shouldn’t be blamed for it.

Holl plays a lot of minutes for Toronto, which is something they need. He offers up a decent amount of blocked shots and hits, but his takeaways/giveaways ratio is disastrous. Holl had 18 takeaways last season compared to 56 giveaways.

On the bright side, the Leafs won Holl’s minutes last year, getting 51% of the goals, which was apparently unlucky, because he was expected to win 54% of his minutes.

In the past, Muzzin got a lot of credit for the success of this partnership, but last year Holl actually did better than Muzzin when they were separated (Holl was a 52% player, Muzzin a 49% with anyone else).

Holl sometimes takes some heat as the least talented/famours member of their top-four, and it’s quite possible that he loses that role to Timothy Liljegren going forward, but he had a successful season last year.

He won his minutes while playing a top-four role on the 4th best team in the NHL and chipped in with some unexpected offense.