Quoting: ghostofkozi
It feels like Holloway is being thrown into this roster for the sake of Holloway being on this roster. Why would you put Hyman, who's proven he can play top 6 and with McDavid on the 3rd line
That seems like a lot to pay for a rental Holtby too
As for Holloway, he played the first games in the AHL after a nine-month absence due to injury and based on the impressions of these first games, I can say that in terms of energy and movement he was the best in the Condors, I note these were his debut games at a professional level. Judging by his movement in these games, there was an impression that he was not playing yesterday's junior, but an NHL-level player. Secondly, he earned the first point after an amazing pass through the floor of the site to Hamblin, such a pass can only be given by a skilled hockey player with excellent vision of the site and high dispatching abilities. Thirdly, he superbly controls the puck plus a physically developed player. I consider the rise of Holloway to the main team a matter of the next month. Not necessarily Holloway plays in the top 6, this is just my guess, he will probably play in the third three, but it is clear from the talent levels that this is not a player of the fourth link.
Regarding Hyman, firstly I like the idea of combining the Hyman trio and Nugent-Hopkins in the center, and Yamamoto on the right, all three played each other, all three play a lot of time in the shorthand. And the third three, in my opinion, turned out to be attacking and combinational, and in addition to this, capable of holding and turning off the opponent's best threes from the game. Secondly, Hyman roughly equalizes our top 9 in the third trio, resulting in approximately equal first three links.