Peter Holland made his debut for the Leafs last night, playing 12 even strength minutes next to JvR and Kessel. Obviously it was nothing to read too far into, but Holland was strong in the circle (he was only 38% over 4 games in Anaheim, but went 7 for 11 last night), had one good chance in the slot, and showed a smooth skating ability for a big guy.

Said Randy Carlyle: “I thought he did OK, it’s hard when a young guy comes in. It’s not like we hid him in the lineup.. That’s what we believe; if you acquire young players, it wouldn’t be right to put him in a non-offensive situation, so that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

What follows is a list of forwards drafted in the first round between 2004 and 2010, with an 80-game minimum cut off for AHL games played (playoff games were included). At risk of stating the obvious, elite offensive players typically bypass the AHL altogether or play less than 80 games in the AHL before graduating to the NHL full time (Bobby Ryan being a rare exception).

Rank (AHL PPG) Forward Draft - Overall AHL Games AHL Points AHL PPG NHL PPG 1 Bobby Ryan 2005 - 2nd 105 107 1.02 0.92 2 Kyle Palmieri 2009 - 26th 150 136 0.91 0.39 3 Nazem Kadri 2009 - 7th 130 117 0.90 0.66 4 Peter Holland 2009 - 15th 129 114 0.88 0.24 5 Jiri Tlusty 2006 - 13th 160 136 0.85 0.40 6 Max Pacioretty 2007 - 22nd 87 73 0.84 0.61 7 Kyle Turris 2007 - 3rd 86 71 0.83 0.48 8 Zach Boychuk 2008 - 14th 270 219 0.81 0.24 9 Rob Schremp 2004 - 25th 217 173 0.80 0.47 10 Mikkel Boedkker 2008 - 8th 100 72 0.72 0.39 11 Brett Connolly 2010 - 6th 94 65 0.69 0.21 12 Nino Niederreiter 2010 - 5th 80 54 0.68 0.17 13 Cody Hodgson 2008 - 10th 82 54 0.66 0.58 13 Michael Grabner 2006 - 14th 212 140 0.66 0.52 13 Jack Skille 2005 - 7th 214 142 0.66 0.27 16 Joe Colborne 2008 - 16th 169 106 0.63 0.29 16 Gilbert Brule 2005 - 6th 102 64 0.63 0.32 18 Nicklas Bergfors 2005 - 23rd 257 150 0.58 0.48 19 Chris Stewart 2006 - 18th 103 58 0.56 0.62 20 Lauri Korpikoski 2004 - 19th 179 99 0.55 0.34 20 Mark Zagrapan 2005 - 13th 238 131 0.55 0 22 Jordan Caron 2009 - 25th 125 68 0.54 0.27 23 Mattias Tedenby 2008 - 24th 84 44 0.52 0.26 24 Trevor Lewis 2006 - 17th 204 101 0.49 0.17 25 Carter Ashton 2009 - 29th 146 65 0.45 0.04 25 Chris Chuko 2004 - 24th 283 127 0.45 0 27 Kyle Beach 2008 - 11th 170 75 0.44 0 27 Jim O’Brien 2007 - 29th 221 97 0.44 0.19 29 Greg Nemisz 2008 - 25th 202 84 0.42 0.07 30 Kyle Chipchurra 2004 - 18th 214 90 0.42 0.22 31 Colton Gilles 2007 - 16th 183 69 0.38 0.12 31 Kendal McArdle 2005 - 20th 215 81 0.38 0.07 33 Angelo Esposito 2007 - 20th 124 38 0.31 0 34 Ryan O’Marra 2005 - 15th 299 89 0.30 0.21

To keep it short and easy for your Sunday morning: while Holland has been slower to emerge than some of the top players on this list, he has the AHL numbers to suggest he could be an above-average-to-good NHL point producer down the road. His NHL point-per-game rate so far ranks him pretty low, but that doesn’t mean much given he’s only played 29 games.

In the short term, we will have to see if Holland sticks with the big club, and if he does where he will fit once Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri return (which for Kadri will be Thursday vs. the Predators; Bozak is eligible to return for that game as well, but it will depend on if he’s ready).

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Holland after last night’s game: