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Justin Holl

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But I thought he was a steaming pile of turd :) ? So much bashing on this board, what did these people do before the internet? Its like some posters only come on to dump on player x as though that's why they follow the team. People seldom get called out for online roasting but we used to toss them out as just being nobs back in the day. Here they just hang around and moan. What's the win at the end? If you are a fan then be one. Even if JH wilts again I remember the Holl love last year when he was earning that deal, and for what he is paid the haters should just STFU.

He loves to play the Oilers BTW. The first time they saw him last season the next day the TSN jocks were saying "who is this guy?" Nice when you see them 9 times. The only player I am worried about on this club is Freddie and its not because of his deal, just that this season they have no real options if he isn't the guy they hope. No silver bullet required, the boys just need to play at the same level each has shown they can in the past, and they have their shot.
 
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Justin Holl, raised in hockey heaven, might be the Maple Leafs’ best defenceman so far | The Star

With a father who once rode his bike from Alaska to Mexico as a quirky adventure and then wrote a book about it.

“I would say that quirky undertaking — as you put it — was kind of a microcosm about my dad’s general attitude, which is you can do it. That’s basically been his message to me all through life, and not even an explicit message, just something that I watched him and realized, yeah, you’re capable of more than you think.”

Holl has had to remind himself of that mantra — yes you can — when a significant person in the Maple Leafs organization, now jettisoned, thought different.

From there to here, Rockwellian childhood to, at this moment, arguably the most stalwart defenceman on the Toronto blue line, deploying that backward skating smoothness for the Leafs. Through Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Oilers — on his 29th birthday — Holl is averaging 22:04 minutes of ice time, just behind Morgan Rielly among the D cadre, second in points by the jump-up rearguard and, clearly, increasingly trusted by Sheldon Keefe.

He’s thriving, being that guy for the Leafs, particularly in high-leverage situations: Holl and partner Jake Muzzin logged 2:32 of short-handed ice time in Edmonton, though the tandem couldn’t keep Connor McDavid from scoring on an obstacle-navigated end-to-end power-play rush, on a dazzling three-point night.

“I love that,” Holl tells the Star, of being cemented as a coach’s mainstay. “I take a lot of pride in that. You talk to anybody on the team and they all say they perform better with more ice time. Being able to get out there that often just makes everything in your game sharper. Gets the confidence going more and it’s just easier to play.”

.................

Here’s an interesting statistical tidbit about Holl:

The prevailing view is that the six-foot-four specimen — 15 hits — has benefited tremendously from being paired with Muzzin. Indeed, he’s the first to give the veteran props. “Muzz has been great for me to play with as a partner. He’s very good with the puck, he’s physical, he’s really effective on the breakouts and he talks a lot. I can’t say enough good things about him.”

The duo is among the dominant D-braces in the NHL. Yet, entering the weekend as per Natural Stat Trick, it was Holl who ranked first among Leafs defencemen in Corsi for, goals for and expected goals for (No. 2 leaguewide) at five-on-five. In fact, defensive metrics showed that, when apart, Holl’s Corsi for shrinks minimally while Muzzin’s tumbles by more than 20 percentage points. A strong argument could be made that it’s been, this season, Holl boosting Muzzin rather than the other way around.

If, of course, you attach much weight to defensive metrics, which are notoriously disputable.

Holl shrugs off the stats. “Numbers tell only part of the story. The eye test tells another part of the story. Underlying stats are just one metric that you can use to evaluate people. It’s not the be-all and end-all.”

Yay Holl.

Of his own evolving game, Holl takes a firmer stance. “The strongest part of my game is probably killing plays early.” As the opposition mounts its puck possession exits. “Having tight gaps in the offensive zone and neutral zone, holding the puck in along the wall and minding their breakouts. Killing their plays in the neutral zone before they can get going.”
 
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hockeywiz542 said:
Justin Holl, raised in hockey heaven, might be the Maple Leafs’ best defenceman so far | The Star

With a father who once rode his bike from Alaska to Mexico as a quirky adventure and then wrote a book about it.

“I would say that quirky undertaking — as you put it — was kind of a microcosm about my dad’s general attitude, which is you can do it. That’s basically been his message to me all through life, and not even an explicit message, just something that I watched him and realized, yeah, you’re capable of more than you think.”

Holl has had to remind himself of that mantra — yes you can — when a significant person in the Maple Leafs organization, now jettisoned, thought different.

From there to here, Rockwellian childhood to, at this moment, arguably the most stalwart defenceman on the Toronto blue line, deploying that backward skating smoothness for the Leafs. Through Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Oilers — on his 29th birthday — Holl is averaging 22:04 minutes of ice time, just behind Morgan Rielly among the D cadre, second in points by the jump-up rearguard and, clearly, increasingly trusted by Sheldon Keefe.

He’s thriving, being that guy for the Leafs, particularly in high-leverage situations: Holl and partner Jake Muzzin logged 2:32 of short-handed ice time in Edmonton, though the tandem couldn’t keep Connor McDavid from scoring on an obstacle-navigated end-to-end power-play rush, on a dazzling three-point night.

“I love that,” Holl tells the Star, of being cemented as a coach’s mainstay. “I take a lot of pride in that. You talk to anybody on the team and they all say they perform better with more ice time. Being able to get out there that often just makes everything in your game sharper. Gets the confidence going more and it’s just easier to play.”

.................

Here’s an interesting statistical tidbit about Holl:

The prevailing view is that the six-foot-four specimen — 15 hits — has benefited tremendously from being paired with Muzzin. Indeed, he’s the first to give the veteran props. “Muzz has been great for me to play with as a partner. He’s very good with the puck, he’s physical, he’s really effective on the breakouts and he talks a lot. I can’t say enough good things about him.”

The duo is among the dominant D-braces in the NHL. Yet, entering the weekend as per Natural Stat Trick, it was Holl who ranked first among Leafs defencemen in Corsi for, goals for and expected goals for (No. 2 leaguewide) at five-on-five. In fact, defensive metrics showed that, when apart, Holl’s Corsi for shrinks minimally while Muzzin’s tumbles by more than 20 percentage points. A strong argument could be made that it’s been, this season, Holl boosting Muzzin rather than the other way around.

If, of course, you attach much weight to defensive metrics, which are notoriously disputable.

Holl shrugs off the stats. “Numbers tell only part of the story. The eye test tells another part of the story. Underlying stats are just one metric that you can use to evaluate people. It’s not the be-all and end-all.”

Yay Holl.

Of his own evolving game, Holl takes a firmer stance. “The strongest part of my game is probably killing plays early.” As the opposition mounts its puck possession exits. “Having tight gaps in the offensive zone and neutral zone, holding the puck in along the wall and minding their breakouts. Killing their plays in the neutral zone before they can get going.”
Click to expand...
Good to see. The leafs have sucked at zone denial since Gards left. I hope he keeps it up.
 
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It took the eye test tonight to see how effective he was. Advanced numbers might say he was bad tonight but he was so good.

Textbook defending a lead as, although the Habs got a ton of shots with him out there, they were forced to continually shoot from the outside. Holl and Muzzin were just owning their souls down low.
 
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I always thought he was an NHLer. I never thought he would be successful in the top 4. He is getting it done. Good for him.
 
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