Pontus Holmberg
Following a solid rookie season in 2022-23 in which he posted 5 goals and 13 points over 37 games, Pontus Holmberg became more of a regular in the Leafs lineup in the 2023-24 season.
So far, Holmberg does not look like a capable top-nine NHL player and should either be on the fourth line, or more likely, in the AHL.
Holmberg recorded 7 goals and 17 points in over 54 games of action last year. It wasn’t the expected jump in production that most had expected, but it nonetheless provided some offensive spark from the Leafs bottom-six. More importantly, Holmberg managed to make the playoff roster this time around, but failed to record a point in seven games against the Boston Bruins.
After a solid training camp this year, Holmberg managed to once again secure a regular spot on the Maple Leafs roster heading into the 2024-25 season. However, despite this, Holmberg has been awful.
The Leafs are losing his minutes, and they get out-possessed, out-shot, and out-chanced when he's on the ice. Holmberg's 39% xGoals rating is the worst among Leafs forwards. His days of playing regularly look numbered as soon as players start to return from the IR.
Entering Wednesday’s game, he had actually compiled just 1 assist in 15 games until finally registering his second assist on the season against the Capitals. That assist though was only a secondary one with John Tavares doing the bulk of the nifty work to set up McMann on his goal.
If he keeps maintaining his current scoring pace, Holmberg will only have 10 points by the end of the season, which just doesn’t cut it for a third year player who was expected to grow in his game by now. Together with a CF% dropping to 48% this season, along with a dismal 39% expected goals rate in 5-on-5 situations, he may no longer be playable if he doesn’t step up his game soon enough.