Sign Up to PPP Today
You have to be a member to comment at PPP. Membership is free and requires only an email address.
Already have an account?
Sign in
When Holinka was drafted by Toronto in the fifth round, he made a rather surprising debut in our T25U25 — at 9th overall. This was mostly due to him looking very good at Toronto’s development camp, and getting a special shoutout from Hayley Wickenheiser. It’s funny to say that his rankings dropped two spots, because I don’t think he’s actually lost a lot of hype. The fact that he’s still ranked that high as a 5th round pick is actually a testament to the fact that the initial ranking wasn’t really jumping the gun.
Miroslav Holinka
Vitals
Age as of July 1
19.64
Position
C/W
Height
6’1″
Weight (lbs)
185
Shoots
R
Draft Year
2024
Draft Number
151
The Player
When we saw Holinka leading into last year’s T25U25, he looked flashy and fun in the summer prospect camps and tournaments. He looked solid in a small exhibition tournament for Czechia in the summer. The hype around him was about his creativity with the puck and his shot. After playing out his full season, however, the hype has more or less remained but there’s a lot more clarity about who he is as a player.
While he does have some slick dangles and a wicked shot, he does not make that a focal point of his game. He is all about being a responsible centre first, and everything else comes second. He supports his defensemen in his own end, he’ll block shots, he’ll work hard defending his man to try and steal the puck or knock it away, and he’ll drive transitions at a high rate. In the offensive zone, he plays conservatively at even strength. He’ll still play high in the zone, so he’s always back to help the defense. That’s honestly one of the main reasons why he didn’t have more points, in my eyes.
Now, about those points. I noticed pretty early on that his production was pretty firmly tied to his usage. At the start of the year, he was cut from Toronto’s camp early and was given top usage, both at even strength and on the powerplay. Once a couple of Edmonton’s top players in NHL camps were returned, namely Gracyn Sawchyn, Holinka was bumped to the 3rd line (2nd at best, sometimes) and 2nd powerplay unit. That’s the role where he really leaned on his defensive game, rather than pushing for offense. In the times after where Sawchyn was hurt, Holinka would get bumped back up to the top line and top powerplay unit and the points would come in more often again.
This is the kind of thing Cathy talks about a lot. Points are a matter of opportunity as much, maybe even more, than they are about talent. So you may think that Holinka’s 45 points in 47 games in the regular season, then zero points in 7 playoff games, as being disappointing or an indication that his offense is bad. I say you’re looking at the wrong thing. His offense was there to an adequate degree, but more importantly was the pro-like habits he developed and the improvement to his foot speed he made over the season. And, most importantly of all, Toronto signed him to an ELC this off-season. They don’t do that without having some belief in him.
#Leafs prospect Miroslav Holinka finishes the regular season in style, getting the puck right off the faceoff, spinning through the defender and ripping it off the post and in for his 19th goal of the season.
— Acceptable Treliving (@brigstew.bsky.social) 2025-03-24T01:44:11.132ZThe Votes
The rankings for Holinka were pretty consistent – everyone had him between 11th and 15th. Personally, that range for me is at the end of the list of prospects who I have at least a small hope for that they could still turn into something beyond just a guy you never remember existed in another couple of years.
Voter
Vote
Cathy
11
Brigstew
11
Species
13
Hardev
12
shinson93
12
Cameron
11
Zone Entry
15
Svalbard38
13
dhammm
12
adam
11
Weighted Average
12.1
Highest Vote
11
Lowest Vote
15
I personally ranked him 11th, which I was a bit surprised by to see is actually lower than last year. I feel like I hold him in roughly the same esteem as I did last year. What I think happened is that Toronto brought in a couple of younger NHLers in Maccelli and Thrun(ish), they drafted or developed some guys that I think just have a slightly higher potential (or better) in Koblar, Hopkins, and Nansi, and another guy just took a huge leap in his development in Johansson.
The Opinions
Here’s what the other voters had to say:
Shinson93: Holinka had a good junior season as a two-way center, but I thought he got a bit quiet in the playoffs. I agree he needs to get more assertive in the ozone to control and drive play. Adding some size and strength should help with that. He’s another guy that might take a little time to adjust at the AHL level, but has the time to work with the development staff. I think he already has a lot of the pro habits, so needs to focus more on strength and skills to break through.dhammm: The only pick the Leafs made in 2024 that I really liked at the time, Holinka had the kind of good, not-great junior season that made me cool a bit on him. He tops my tier of intriguing junior prospects, but the fantasies I had that the Leafs might have plucked an impact player with a later-round pick have adjusted to the more sober reality that there might simply be a useful depth player someday.Svalbard38: Holinka’s dropped down the list a bit from last year but I don’t take that as any kind of knock on him. He had an impressive dev camp after he was drafted and some good international performances, and the fanbase got a bit of Holinka fever. He’s had a good season in the WHL and I wouldn’t hate to see him go back there for another year. I like his fundamental skills but there’s not necessarily going to be a huge opportunity for him on the Marlies, and I’d rather he go back to Edmonton and be The Guy instead of being a bubble AHL/ECHL player.Hardev: Holinka didn’t fall down my list so much as the number of players in the tier above him changed. He was a middle-six centre on a middle-of-the-pack team in Edmonton so my concern with him is upside. We’ll see him on the Marlies and I’m curious to see where he slots in with them, probably in one of the spots left by Abruzzese and Tverberg.
So what do you all think? Let us know where you had him ranked and what you think of his potential after his WHL season and ELC contract signed with the Leafs!
#Leafs prospect Miroslav Holinka creates a turnover and sets up the short handed goal for his fourth point of the game!
— Acceptable Treliving (@brigstew.bsky.social) 2025-01-19T02:59:29.052Z
PPP Runs on Your Support
If you enjoy the T25U25 every year, and want to see it continue, please consider becomming a paid subscriber.
We want to keep all our content open to all users, but to become a sustainable site, we need more support from paid members.