Holmberg could soon make his Leafs debut, Simmonds reassigned

After a long road trip, the Maple Leafs have decided to move some bodies around ahead of their two-game homestand.

This is the 23-year-old’s first call up to the NHL after joining the Maple Leafs organization full-time this year. Holmberg has spent most of his time this season on the Marlies as a centre within their top-six.

He’s a very good puck transporter, helping the team move up the ice fairly quickly. Paired with his puck transporting is Holmberg’s puck protection, which sometimes looks like it’s a step above everyone else.

There’s been multiple instances this season where the 23-year-old will bring the puck into the offensive zone and have the patience to wait until a player gets open to find them for a scoring chance.

Holmberg is able to hold onto the puck for long periods of time, not allowing the opposition to take the puck away from him.

What also stands out is Holmberg’s play at both ends of the rink. If you need him in the defensive zone, he can provide good defence, and the same goes for when the Marlies are attacking.

In seven AHL games this season, Holmberg has two assists.

Although the point total is fairly low, the 23-year-old is an incredibly relied upon player by Greg Moore. Holmberg is a very complete player and there’s a lot of positives throughout his first seven AHL games. It’s quite difficult to find any negatives, though.

Now, the other side of this is that Wayne Simmonds is being sent down to the Marlies.

Toronto’s AHL affiliate plays three games in the next four nights and it’ll be interesting to see whether or not Simmonds joins the team. He didn’t when he was last sent down, but maybe this time is different.

In other news, Jordie Benn was still skating with the Marlies on Tuesday in their final practice before heading to Laval. Timothy Liljegren, though, was not.

“Liljegren is not here with us today.” Said Marlies head coach Greg Moore after the practice when asked about the absence.

It appears that the 23-year-old is back with the Maple Leafs, however he’s still on LTIR until November 5th when Toronto hosts the Boston Bruins. This is a great sign for the Maple Leafs.

For Benn, staying with the Marlies could mean the Maple Leafs asked for two more games in the AHL.

The CBA states that a player on LTIR may be on conditioning loan for three games or six days. However, the NHL club can ask for a two-game extension, which likely is the case here.