Leafs, Holland settle before arbitration hearing, agree on 1-year deal

Photo Credit: Tom Szczerbowski/USA TODAY SPORTS

Yeah, so about that mock pre-game… the Toronto Maple Leafs and Peter Holland have settled on a one-year deal, just before the two sides were scheduled to head to player-elected arbitration.

Settling out of arbitration is usually the best way to go about things. Unless you think you might be able to squeeze out a significantly better result if you wait the process out, a few extra dollars typically aren’t worth having both sides go at each other how good or bad the other is. It’s a very strenuous moment for team and player relations, and quite frankly, should only really be seen as the nuclear option.

As far as value goes, it’s hard to claim that the Leafs didn’t win this battle. The final dollar figure comes in at $150,000 less than the middle ground between Toronto’s offer and Holland’s ask, which was already reasonably fair value for a player of his calibre. At $1.3 million, here are his salary comparables ($1.0M to $1.5M) in his age group (24 to 28):

Holland is one of two players on this list (Maroon being the other, who actually makes $2,000,000 but Anaheim is retaining $500,000 of his salary) who is in the upper half in both rate production and relative possession over the past three years. That’s impressive, considering that he was a possession anchor until his positive year last year, and that his production may have been dragged down by shooting at just 6.5% last year (his career average in previous years was 12.2%), which could have cost him as many as nine goals. Needless to say, it’s pretty good value, whether Holland stays in the lineup or gets shopped on the open market.