The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed forward Peter Holland on waivers, reported Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman on Friday.
Earlier this offseason, Holland, 25, elected to go to arbitration with the Maple Leafs and is set for an arbitration hearing on July 25. Despite placing Holland on waivers, the timing of the move could be used by the Maple Leafs as leverage for contract negotiations. If Holland is unclaimed on waivers just days before his arbitration hearing, the Maple Leafs would have a stronger case for a potential two-way contract offer at arbitration.
On July 19, the Minnesota Wild placed restricted free agent forward Jordan Schroeder on waivers, in a similar move days before Schroeder’s arbitration hearing set for July 27.
Since being traded to the Maple Leafs by the Anaheim Ducks during the 2013-14 regular season, Holland has played in 165 regular season games, registering 25 goals and 62 points. On July 16, 2014, Holland signed a two-year contract with the Maple Leafs. During the 2015-16 regular season, Holland had career highs in games played (65) and points (27).
The 6-feet-2-inch, 194-pound center was the 19th ranked North American skater by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau before being selected by the Anaheim Ducks with the 15th overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.
Before beginning his professional career, the Ontario native played four seasons with the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). In 256 OHL regular season games, Holland compiled 103 goals and 257 points.
On Thursday, the Maple Leafs signed 2016 first overall pick Auston Matthews to a three-year entry-level contract that pays Matthews the NHL maximum of $925,000 per year, before performance bonuses. With the signing of Matthews, the Maple Leafs have just over $3 million in remaining salary cap space for the 2016-17 season.