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Peter Holland has been signed to a two-year, one-way contract worth $775,000 a season, Anthony Petrielli of Maple Leafs Hot Stove has learned.

Holland would’ve had the option of accepting a one-year, two-way $850,000 qualifying offer as fellow former first round pick Carter Ashton did earlier today, but obviously opted for the guaranteed NHL salary of a one-way deal over two years. It appears to work out nicely for the Leafs.

If the 23-year-old Holland can serve as the third line center during this contract and do so capably, $775,000 a season is really good value, assuming his NHL production begins to grow as his AHL numbers would suggest it can.

The new contract also means Holland is waiver prone, so there will be no bouncing up and down this season or else the Leafs would lose the former first round pick who was acquired for a 2nd round pick and Jessie Blacker last November.

This season should be Holland’s first full-time opportunity in the NHL for a significant stretch of games, and hopefully Randy Carlyle integrates Holland a little better than last season. A lace-bite injury that required a longer recovery than first anticipated didn’t help matters, but  he only played about 11 minutes and change on average as Carlyle opted to elevate Jay McClement and really lean on the veteran when injuries struck at center.

Regardless, bygones are bygone and Holland should be looking at a nice opportunity coming this Fall. Leafs management deserves some credit for making the development-geared move of letting a coach’s favorite in McClement — who it should be said did serve the club well in his more natural 4C role — walk and, as Shanahan put it, “giving our young players opportunities. We want to have competition. We want to create that internal pressure, that there are jobs to be had here.”

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Founded in 2008, Maple Leafs Hotstove (MLHS) has grown to be the most visited independent team-focused hockey website online (Quantcast). Independently owned and operated, MLHS provides thorough and wide-ranging content, varying from news, opinion and analysis, to pre-game and long-form game reviews, and a weekly feature piece entitled "Leafs Notebook." MLHS has been cited by: ESPN, Sports Illustrated, CBC News, USA Today, Fox Sports, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, TSN, Sportsnet, Grantland, CTV News, CBSSports, The Globe & Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, Global News, Huffington Post, and many more.