Aftonbladet had a report this morning (thanks to an alert reader who read to the end, when I hadn’t) about Philip Holm.  The very last line says this:

For Philip Holm awaits his World Championship debut - and probably the NHL after the World Championship in 2017. Toronto is said to have already signed the defender.

Holm, who is a left-shooting defender and teammate of Calle Rosén, is set to make his debut for the Swedish team today at the IIHF World Championship because Oliver Ekman-Larsson is out with an illness.

Holm played on the same pairing with Rosén in the tune-up games Team Sweden played.  He stuck to the left side, while fellow lefty Rosén frequently switched to the right.

Holm as a teenager, courtesy of the author of the Aftonbladet story.

Holm is listed at 6’1” and just under 200 lb.  At 25, he is making his international debut for Sweden this year in some of the European Hockey Tour games.

In an article from March examining possible Swedish defence targets for NHL teams, Holm was listed at number five. [Translation by Google and me, any mistakes are both of us.]

There will be a lot of Växjö on this list and it is not surprising considering how good the league leader has performed this season. Success breeds success, as we know. Philip Holm is undoubtedly the most insecure card on my list, but since he had the chance in the Tre Kronor in Sweden Hockey Games later, he has had the opportunity to prove himself internationally. It tends to be a major contributing factor in this kind of context. Holm has taken major steps in its development after moving from Djurgården to Växjö and has good mobility, as he is difficult to play against. What speaks against him to get a contract offer is that he lacks that last finishing touch in his game that NHL scouts are looking for. Dextrous two-way defenders tend to be ignored.

Is this legit? Who knows. But my first thought on hearing Mike Babcock talk about signing free agents was why not both Rosén and Holm?  Double your chances of success.


Mike Babcock says the Leafs are about to add some players
UPDATED: Even more rumours link Calle Rosén to the Leafs