SIMMONS: What do the Maple Leafs do about Justin Holl? | Toronto Sun
His plight and his play are particularly confusing and confounding in a season in which big things are expected of a Leafs upper echelon team heading in one direction while the decline of Holl is clearly not keeping pace. He was no news when he first arrived as Leaf, then he was good news: Now he’s bad news on too many NHL nights.
Part of it is his play. It just hasn’t been good enough. Part of it is his partner’s play. The veteran leader Jake Muzzin hasn’t been good enough or healthy enough. A great defenceman can often partner with a lesser and make the other rather invisible and invaluable. The great Chris Pronger did it for years in places like Edmonton or Philadelphia as has Drew Doughty in Los Angeles. But Muzzin hasn’t been that great player ever — or even the good one he has normally been in the past and is expected to be.
This now exposes the 6-foot-4 Holl as a rather large and seemingly slow skating, slow decision making weak link that other teams have clearly identified and attacked. And it makes a natural problem and challenge for coach Sheldon Keefe. Does he continue to pair Holl with Muzzin? Does he continue to utilize the pair as its shutdown duo against the NHL’s best lines? Does he split them up? And if so, who plays with whom? And where, if anywhere, does Holl fit in?
The first Leafs pairing of Morgan Rielly and TJ Brodie is set. Muzzin is a staple, even while struggling. Young Rasmus Sandin has taken a step forward this season as has his usual partner, Timothy Liljegren.
Which leaves Holl, where? And the forever treading Travis Dermott, swimming in circles, hoping to one day find himself as an NHL regular.
There are all kinds of moving pieces here, just not necessarily the right pieces.
Playing defence is normally not about statistics unless you happen to be elite. Playing defence is about body positioning and stick positioning. It’s about decision making. It’s about thinking the game in a way forwards never have to think the game. It’s about reading the play and understanding where you are on the ice. It’s about gap control and knowing when to pinch and more importantly when not to pinch. And it’s about time and space, figuring out how much of it you have and how to best utilize it.
A lot of this comes naturally to the best of all defencemen. It’s instinctual. It’s natural. It’s who they are.
But when you’re Justin Holl, and you know things aren’t going your way, and your trip to the NHL wasn’t easy or natural, suddenly it’s like dancing with a partner you’ve never met before. You step one way, they step the other: You’re not in any kind of rhythm.
Holl’s entire season has been out of step. He’s added next to nothing offensively for the Leafs, which is fine, so long as he’s strong defensively, which he hasn’t been.
So general manager Kyle Dubas and coach Keefe have different kinds of determinations to make. The coach has to figure out whether to play Holl, where to play him, how to play him. Good coaches have forever found ways to hide and protect mediocre defencemen. Holl’s ice time has already been reduced of late.
