The SHL playoff MVP has an NHL deal. Pontus Holmberg has signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The deal will kick in for next season, but Holmberg will be loaned back to Vaxjo in Sweden for 2021-22.
Holmberg, 22, was a sixth-round pick by the Maple Leafs in 2018 after he had played just two games at the SHL level. Just a few years later he was raising the championship trophy over his head after posting 14 points in 14 postseason games with Vaxjo. Playoff MVP, league champion, and Swedish forward of the year, it’s been quite a ride for Holmberg this season.
The next step will be taking that playoff dominance and bringing it on a consistent basis in the regular season. Holmberg had just nine goals and 23 points in 45 games during the regular season, well behind other prospects on his team like Jack Drury. If he is ever going to make an impact for the Maple Leafs, he’ll need to bring that offensive presence night in and night out.
Still, for Toronto, signing whatever prospects you can is key at this point. The team went out early again in this year’s playoffs despite loading up at the deadline and now have just three selections (2nd, 5th, and 6th rounders) in the upcoming draft.
The Maple Leafs? Hahahahaha. Biggest chokers in the NHL and now they basically have no draft capital. Given their enormous resources they are one of, if not the most overrated organization in all professional sports.
*The Maple Laughs
A second, a fifth, and a sixth-rounder in a draft that may very well turn out to be one of, if not the biggest crap-shoot ever, no thanks to Mean ‘Ol Mr. COVID. Kids that haven’t played much in the last 18 months to kids that haven’t been able to play at all. Some scouts will be under pressure to “get it right”, when they don’t have much of anything to work with and others will simply say “whatever.” It sure doesn’t seem like TOR will get much better through this year’s draft. That may also apply to more teams, of course.