Arizona Coyotes: Peter Holland Has Immediate Impact
Arizona Coyotes general manager John Chayka got Peter Holland for a song from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Last night he got vengeance on his former team.
The Arizona Coyotes have a strange pull with their fans in recent years.
Through the turmoil and the losing, there’s always something tugging at us.
Michael Corleone famously said in The Godfather: Part III, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
That’s the Coyotes. That’s also what’s happened with this past week of games.
Just when you thought the team might have resigned itself to the bottom of the NHL barrel after getting shutout 7-0 in Pittsburgh, they’ve scratched and clawed their way to three wins in their last four outings.
Some of it is luck.
They didn’t play very well in the Detroit or Toronto games, but they found a way to win.
That’s something they weren’t doing earlier in the season.
A big part of the recent success has been new acquisition Peter Holland.
John Chayka acquired him for a conditional pick that will likely never swap hands, but in doing so Holland has become a primary catalyst in the past two Coyotes’ victories.
He not only won the game last night, he also got the player of the game belt for his efforts.
No surprise here.@JamieMcGinn88 passes the game belt on to … ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/33spwphnFf
— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) December 16, 2016
It’s not often that you get to face your childhood team, the team you’d always wanted to play for, less than a week after they traded you because you weren’t a fit for their organization.
To score the shootout winner against them for some sweet revenge? That’s quite the story.
All the hype prior to last night’s game centered on Auston Matthews facing his childhood team and hero in Shane Doan.
We all forgot about Peter Holland and a very similar story, minus that being the first overall pick business.
Holland has been a pretty average pro throughout his six year career. He’s been in and out of the lineup in Anaheim and Toronto, and he’s also had some decent seasons where he approached 30 points.
It’s not a stretch to think that this opportunity with the Arizona Coyotes is the best he’s had, considering the position in the lineup he’s being placed in and the linemates he is centering.
Sadly, it’s also not a stretch that a poor showing with the Coyotes might be his last rodeo in the National Hockey League.
He’s playing like he’s aware of that fact.
Holland has been a shot in the arm to the Coyotes’ offense, and his line with Jamie McGinn and Anthony Duclair has shown instant chemistry.
The new guy won’t carry the Coyotes every night, but he’s made quite the impression to kick off this new venture.
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