Toronto Maple Leafs Recall Pontus Holmberg
Looking for a change, the Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled Pontus Holmberg from the AHL. To make room, Wayne Simmonds has been sent back to the Toronto Marlies. Simmonds cleared waivers at the beginning of the season, so can be assigned freely for the time being.
Holmberg, 23, has turned into an interesting prospect for the Maple Leafs. A sixth-round pick in 2018, he developed into a star player in Sweden, winning a league championship and being named playoff MVP. He followed up the impressive postseason performance with a 41-point season, and even got a taste of North American hockey with a six-game look with the Toronto Marlies last spring.
Still, despite all that success, it’s hard to imagine Holmberg really being the key to unlocking the Maple Leafs this season. At best he is probably an upgrade in the bottom six, capable of playing center or wing. But with just two assists in seven games with the Marlies this season, the offensive upside of a player like Holmberg is limited.
With Toronto struggling to score at even-strength (and in general), they’ll need their stars to play better – not just the bottom-six.
Pontus Holmberg Assigned To AHL
The Toronto Marlies are getting a pretty impressive reinforcement, as Pontus Holmberg has been assigned to the AHL club by the Toronto Maple Leafs now that his SHL season is over. Signed to an entry-level contract last June, the young forward was loaned back to Sweden for most of this year.
Holmberg, 23, was a sixth-round pick (156th overall) of the Maple Leafs back in 2018 and for the first few years after his draft, appeared to be nothing special. That changed during last year’s SHL playoffs though, when the Vaxjo forward scored seven goals and 14 points in 14 games, winning the championship and being named playoff MVP. He was then named Swedish Forward of the Year, earned a place on the World Championship squad, and suddenly was a rising star. The Maple Leafs signed him to an entry-level contract and sent him back to the SHL to continue his development, with a much bigger role on Vaxjo.
This season, his progression continued, with 41 points in 46 games and a place on Sweden’s Olympic team. That was a big accomplishment, given that the rest of the roster was made up of veterans. In fact, Holmberg was the only player in the entire group that could be considered an NHL prospect and was several years younger than everyone else.
While he still has much to prove on this side of the ocean, the Maple Leafs have certainly done well with some of their late-round Swedish picks in the past. Andreas Johnsson (202nd overall), and Pierre Engvall (188th overall) both took a similar path to the organization and became NHL regulars within a few years of coming over. If they can pull off the same trick with Holmberg, it’s another low-cost forward to support the high-priced talent at the top of their roster.