Last week the Maple Leafs announced the signing of German defenseman Korbinian Holzer. He was a 4th round pick of John Ferguson in 2006 providing further proof that JFJ's strength was at the draft. Too bad he kept trading away his picks.
Playing with Germany in both the Olympics (this year) and the World Junior Championships (2007), it's clear that Holzer is highly regarded as a solid international player by his home nation.
Holzer has also been known over the past week as being the guy who was pasted into the boards (see video below) by fellow Leaf Nik Kulemin at the IIHF World Hockey Championships in a game between Russia and Germany.
Playing with the DEG Metro Stars of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, Holzer compiled 22 points and 96 penalty minutes in 52 games.
Holzer has been signed for 2 years on a 2-way contract which means that if he never makes it onto the Leafs he won't cost them too much playing on the Marlies.
At 6'3" he has the height that Brian Burke likes in his defensemen but at 190 lbs he will need to bulk up. He is defensive-minded player that plays a physical game. Not many players in his draft range have accomplished anything yet, with Columbus’ Derek Dorsett and Toronto’s own Viktor Stalberg the only ones to play 40 NHL games. Holzer may not have that, but he has Olympic experience, which is hard to come by when going through the 2006 drafts players after the first round. The Marlies already have depth at defense with Jesse Blacker, Keith Aulie, Phil Oreskovic, and Juraj Mikus so Holzer will have his work cut out for him to rise in the depth chart.
No comments:
Post a Comment