The Islanders and Red Wings waived veterans Pierre Engvall and Justin Holl this week. Adam Proteau says they're the latest cases of 'The Toronto Effect.'
There are some double-edged swords that come with playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and seeing Pierre Engvall and Justin Holl clear waivers despite making more than $3 million a season reminds us of one sword in particular.
In the fishbowl environment that is Leafs Land, every player’s positives are magnified, as are their drawbacks. They’re not as good as Leafs fans hope for, nor are they as bad as their critics may claim them to be. That magnification can lead other markets to overvalue what those former Leafs can do and wind up with buyer’s remorse for taking a chance on them.
Look no further than two veterans who bounced cleanly through the waiver wire to begin the week: The New York Islanders waived left winger Engvall, and the Detroit Red Wings waived defenseman Holl.
The two ex-Leafs cleared waivers but might’ve been claimed by a team were it not for their pricey salaries. The 28-year-old Engvall is in the second season of a seven-year, $21-million contract with a $3-million cap hit, while the 32-year-old Holl is in the second campaign of a three-year deal that pays him $3.4 million per season.
Those are very costly deals for players who aren’t elite by any metric. Engvall only had 10 goals and 28 points in 74 games last season – numbers below his career highs of 15 goals and 35 points in 78 games with the Leafs in 2021-22. Meanwhile, Holl’s first season as a Red Wing was tough sailing, as he was often a healthy scratch and generated just five assists in 38 games.
It’s understandable, then, why Engvall and Holl were on short leashes on Long Island and in Motown, respectively, this fall – and it’s obvious why the patience of Isles GM Lou Lamoriello and Wings counterpart Steve Yzerman has run out for them with other players outperforming them, such as Maxim Tsyplakov on the Islanders.
Detroit and the Islanders are both under intense pressure to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs this season, and they can’t afford to have any passengers on board. They have to cut as much fat from the NHL roster as possible, and that’s why Holl and Engvall wound up on waivers.
Those of us who watched Engvall and Holl as Leafs wondered why Yzerman and Lamoriello would pay that much for that long to sign them. But the reality is the Toronto magnifying glass works as much on hockey executives as it does on hockey fans.
Leafs fatigue is a real affliction for fans outside the Toronto area, but the truth is the Leafs are hyper-analyzed because the market for the team is so massive. That can and will distort a Leaf player’s value, and once those players leave Toronto, there’s a considerable wake-up call for those who took a risk by picking up those players.
Maybe Engvall and Holl will find a way to resuscitate their NHL careers if they get another chance with their current squads or elsewhere. But unless we’re talking about lengthy and punitive buyouts – especially in the case of Engvall, who would be on the Isles’ cap for a whopping 10 years if he were bought out next off-season – the teams that employ them are stuck with them for the foreseeable future. They were gambles, and now, they’re reclamation projects at best.
Which player was more surprising to see on waivers? Katie Gaus asked this question to Michael Traikos and Ryan Kennedy:
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