Number Crunch: Justin Holl will be counted on by Maple Leafs to move the pick in Morgan Rielly’s absence
On this week’s edition of Number Crunch, Cam Charron speaks with Frank Seravalli and Colby Cohen about the Maple Leafs’ defense and how Justin Holl will be heavily counted on.
Frank Seravalli: Please welcome back to Daily Faceoff Live, former Toronto Maple Leafs analyst Cam Charron for the Number Crunch, which is delivered by DoorDash. Cam, when you look at Morgan Rielly and him being out, we were just talking about the Leafs’ needs on the blueline and how they could possibly solve it. How will the Leafs find a way to move the puck?
Cam Charron: Well, I just want to start off by agreeing with Colby about the Leafs’ need for Erik Karlsson. I don’t think it’s a big fit for them, especially with the way the Leafs deploy their defensemen. It’s not necessarily an offensive role, what the Leafs’ defense typically do is see the puck up for their forwards unless taking control of the game on their own. So, one player in particular that I think is incredibly underrated is Justin Holl. Justin Holl takes a lot of abuse on Twitter from Leafs Twitter, for his odd mistake here and there.
One thing that he is incredibly good at is making sure the puck exits the defensive zone with control. In fact, he is the best on the Maple Leafs among their defensemen this year at aiding controlled exits, that’s passing the puck or carrying the puck outside the blueline and retaining control of it. So, I’m finding that Holl, despite his faults is the one who’s able to get the puck out, he’s able to avoid the forecheckers and assist in the breakout. Mainly just able to get the puck on the sticks of the forwards who are able to go down to the other end. They haven’t been able to do that, you know Rielly has been very strong for the Leafs of course, and strong in this regard ever since I have been with the Leafs. It’s going to be something they miss, but Mac Hollowell, who they called up to replace him will be on the third pair, he’s also been a very good puck mover for the Toronto Marlies. That has kind of been his calling card. It’s just what the Leafs like to target from their front office. That’s going to be the key thing, but I really like Holl and I don’t think the Leafs are going to be in that big of an issue, they’re not going to have that big of a problem since they have that strongest defenseman who can do that and he does it against top opposition every night.
You can watch the full episode here…