The Toronto Maple Leafs and Peter Holland have avoided an arbitration hearing by agreeing to a one-year contract worth $1.3 million (one-way).
After waiving Holland to strengthen their potential arbitration case, many wondered if the Leafs had no interest in bringing the Toronto native to camp and wanted to pull the chute on the potential ruling. While the sides ended up settling closer to the Leafs‘ $900k ask than Holland’s $2.1 million, it’s possible management could be looking into trade options now that there is a contract in place.
If Holland arrives at camp, he is going to be in a battle to keep his roster spot.
The Leafs are in a position where they seemingly have no choice but to wait out the contracts of Milan Michalek, Joffrey Lupul and Brooks Laich, which means that it could be a player like Holland who stands to lose his spot to the youth breaking through. That could all change if Holland arrives in good shape and has a strong camp that wins over Mike Babcock and his staff.
Health has been an issue for the 25-year-old Holland the past few seasons as well as consistency, but he played the past two seasons at a 33-35 point pace while averaging about 14:30 a game in ice time.
Holland will become an RFA again at the end of the contract.
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