EDMONTON – Peter Holland’s relationship with the Toronto Maple Leafs has reached a boiling point.
Holland and his agent, Joe Resnick, met with general manager Lou Lamoriello on the phone and they decided the forward would not be traveling with the team on its road trip through Western Canada this week, head coach Mike Babcock announced.
Holland, 25, has been growing increasingly frustrated with his status as a frequent healthy scratch in Toronto.
He has squeezed into the lineup just eight times this season, registering a single assist and averaging 10:43 in ice time in those appearances.
Babcock does not anticipate Holland’s absence creating a roster issue as the Leafs play the Oilers (Tuesday), Flames (Wednesday) and Canucks (Saturday) on this road swing.
“We might have to go seven [defencemen] and 11 [forwards], but that’s life,” Babcock said.
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Lamoriello will attempt to trade Holland.
Holland, a Toronto native, was acquired by the previous management regime in November of 2013 from the Anaheim Ducks. He has failed to earn a consistent role as depth centre this season and has been supplanted at the fourth centre by Ben Smith, whom the Leafs picked up off waivers from Colorado a month ago.
Coming off a nice year statistically in 2015-16, in which he posted a career-best 27 points, Holland filed for arbitration this summer as a restricted free agent. The sides avoided arbitration, agreeing to one-year, $1.3-million contract on July 25.
Resnick also represents Leafs defenceman Frank Corrado, who has appeared in just one game this season.
“Holly’s been a team player from Day One. Even though he hasn’t been getting in the lineup, he’s always been supportive and came to the rink with a smile on his face,” said fellow Leafs centre Nazem Kadri.
“Whatever happens, I obviously wish him the best.”
Babcock talks to McLellan about McDavid comments
Following the Maple Leafs’ thrilling 3-2 overtime victory over the Oilers in Toronto on Nov. 1, Babcock said that Nazem Kadri was “fresher” than opposing centre Connor McDavid, who was double-shifted in a loss.
“You jam a guy out there every shift and three in a row, stuff like that, hard to have the same pop,” said Babcock, a seemingly passive-aggressive swipe at McLellan’s aggressive deployment of the NHL’s leading scorer.
“I never expected the guy to play that much. He’s a good player and all that, but so is [Ryan] Nugent-Hopkins.”
As head coach of the Red Wings, Babcock selected McLellan to help run the Detroit Red Wings’ offence in 2005. The two men shared a bench for three seasons, drinking from the same Stanley Cup in 2008, before McLellan earned the head gig in San Jose.
“If you know Mike as well as I do, he’s an emotional guy, and that was an emotional game for both teams,” McLellan said Tuesday.
“I got a nice call from him afterward. It wasn’t the way he wanted it to come out. I will say this: I used to work for a really good coach that used to always tell me, ‘It’s really hard to coach in this league just coaching your own team.’ So…”
The hockey world is small; the coaching fraternity is smaller.
Leafs president Brendan Shanahan, a friend of both coaches, spoke to Babcock about his post-game comments.
“All my fault. Not my intent, but it doesn’t matter what your intent was,” Babcock said Tuesday. “When I looked at it two days later, it was not right.”
McLellan gave Babcock a tour of Rogers Place, the Oilers’ shiny new home, this morning and they had a fine chat.
“Don’t get in the way of yourself. Keep your mouth shut,” said Babcock, smiling at a lesson learned. “Todd McLellan is going to be a friend of Mike Babcock’s and my family for a long time after hockey.”
