A former Leaf who was once a teammate of Cedric Pare came to his defence regarding the infamous knee-on-knee collision with Patrik Laine on Saturday night.
Peter Holland took to Twitter/X to share his thoughts on the incident and what he thinks of Pare.
Played with Pare last year. He’s not a dirty player and has really good hockey sense. Unfortunate circumstance with Laine but I know there was no intent to injure.
Just a guy trying to make it to the next level and didn’t want to get side stepped
— Peter Holland (@PeterHolland13) September 29, 2024
This comes after Pare became public enemy #1 in Montreal after a knee-on-knee collision near the blueline with Laine. While the Canadiens were on the power play early in the first period, Laine collected the puck from centre ice and crossed over to the left side to get some separation. As this was happening, Pare and Jacob Quillan closed in on him to prevent him from getting open. While attempting to move away from the blockade and get that open lane, Laine’s knee made contact with Pare’s and he had to be helped off the ice.
“It’s a fast game, it wasn’t my intention. It’s just unfortunate,” Pare said when speaking with reporters after the game. “I hope he’s fine. It wasn’t my intention. I didn’t mean to do that.”
The severity is unknown at the time of filing, but Laine was reportedly seen exiting the Bell Centre in crutches and wearing a knee brace on his left knee. In any case, the fans in Montreal let Pare hear it the rest of the night as they rained boos on him every time he touched the puck.
Canadiens defenceman Arber Xhekaj especially took exception to the collision as a few shifts later, he went after an unsuspecting Pare and plummed him with punches. It resulted in him getting 27 penalty minutes and an ejection from the game while getting fined $3,385.42 for unsportsmanlike conduct by the Department of Player Safety on Sunday.
Holland was teammates with Pare during the 2023-24 season when both were members of the Colorado Eagles of the AHL. This was made possible because Holland was in the midst of a comeback attempt when he signed a PTO with the Avalanche last September. While he was unable to secure an NHL contract, he did get to play in 42 AHL games and record 23 points (14 goals and nine assists) as well as two assists in three playoff games.
Holland played parts of four seasons with the Leafs between 2013 and 2016 where he spent the majority of his NHL career with his hometown team. He ended up playing in 174 games with Toronto where he registered 63 points (25 goals and 38 assists) in that time.
As for Pare, he finished the season with 35 points (14 goals and 21 assists) in 61 games and went scoreless in two playoff games for the Eagles. He signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Leafs on July 2nd that carries an AAV of $775,000.
