Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube wants to see more out of Pontus Holmberg and challenged him to be better on pucks along with the pace of play.
Following their 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday, Berube was asked how he felt Holmberg had been doing and expressed his disappointment that he had not looked the same since the start of training.
“I thought he came out of camp and had a real good camp,” Berube said of Holmberg. “To me, he’s got to battle a little bit harder for pucks and hang on to the pucks a little bit more like he was in training camp, in the offensive zone and things like that. Kind of just get up to speed ’cause he looks just a little step behind right now.”
Holmberg played a season-low 11:18 in the game and didn’t look particularly impressive in those minutes. He took a holding penalty midway through the first period and got called for another in the second which led to a 6-on-5 goal for Chris Kreider which proved to be the game-winner. While he has had games with a lower ice time than what he had on Saturday night, it was clear that he wasn’t effective when he did play as the Leafs were outshot 2-4 when he was on the ice.
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Berube certainly has a lot of faith in Holmberg, as evidenced by the fact he got a trial run at second-line centre when John Tavares had to miss the home opener due to an illness. But even in that contest, he looked overmatched and was sent back down to the bottom six as the night progressed.
With only an assist in five games so far, Holmberg has not been exceptional to begin the campaign and that could result in him sitting in the pressbox on Monday night when the Tampa Bay Lightning come to town. Max Pacioretty was a healthy scratch for two straight contests and should get another chance then, which would likely come at the expense of Holmberg.
Even if it ends up being someone else, Holmberg has to improve his play because Berube is publicly challenging him to be stronger on pucks and in his decision-making. This could result in him being on the outside looking in for the next little bit.
Holmberg is on the second year of a two-year extension he got in the summer of 2023 that gives him an AAV of $800,000. When it expires this summer, he will be an RFA that is eligible for arbitration.
