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Report: Leafs pursuing Swedish defenseman Holm

May 12, 2017, 1:28 PM ET [138 Comments]
Mike Augello
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Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock is on a scouting sojourn at the World Championships, checking out players that his club may have interest in signing for next season.

Reports from the Swedish website Expressen last month indicated that 23-year-old defenseman Calle Rosen would sign with Toronto after the tournament, but another report on Friday has the Leafs pursuing Vaxjo HC blueliner Philip Holm.




The 25-year-old Holm (Rosen’s SHL defense partner) is 6’1”, 190 lb and just completed his third season in the Swedish Hockey League, where he scored four goals and 17 assists in 52 games this season and had a goal and two assists in Sweden’s 8-1 romp over Italy in Cologne,



TSN’s Bob McKenzie described Holm as a smooth skater who is known more as a defensive defenseman, but has a good work ethic and plays within his capabilities, as opposed to Rosen who has a better shot and more offensive creativity, but is less consistent.

Toronto struck pay dirt with the signing of Nikita Zaitsev one year ago, who fit in well as a top-four defenseman with the Leafs (if you ask anybody except Don Cherry), but they do not appear to be looking for top-pairing options from European free agents this time around.

The Leafs have two blueliners (Matt Hunwick and Roman Polak) heading for unrestricted free agency and two others in Martin Marincin and Alexey Marchenko who will be exposed in the expansion draft on June 21.

Toronto has a pair of 20-year-old defensive prospects in Travis Dermott and Andrew Nielsen that have potential but may not be ready to make the jump to the NHL next season. Adding Holm, Rosen or both Swedes gives the organization experienced depth which would be more cost-effective than signing NHL veterans in a very thin unrestricted free agent class.

GM Lou Lamoriello’s pursuit of a top-four defenseman will likely take him to the trade market or free agency (if Karl Alzner does not exceed $5 Million on July 1), but will cost the Leafs a forward such as James van Riemsdyk or one of their younger prospects.



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