Elliotte Friedman Confirms the Toronto Maple Leafs Made a Huge Mistake with Pontus Holmberg

Overall, Pontus Holmberg was a promising young player whom the Toronto Maple Leafs had quite a bit of faith in just a few years ago.

However, this season, Holmberg was not the offensive juggernaut the franchise needed him to be, and his lack of scoring was especially egregious in the playoffs.

Once it came time to extend a qualifying offer his way, the Maple Leafs opted to let him walk right into free agency as opposed to retaining his RFA rights.

From there, Holmberg signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Atlantic Division rivals who seemed pretty excited to get themselves such a talented forward.

According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Maple Leafs may have made a huge mistake by not realizing what they actually had in Holmberg.

We say that because Friedman suggests there were numerous teams looking to acquire Holmberg, and many of them were Stanley Cup contenders. Of course, there was the Lightning, but the Colorado Avalanche as well.

Overall, Holmberg was not the player the Maple Leafs needed him to be, and that is why they let him walk. Just because another team is interested doesn't mean the Leafs really did make a mistake.

However, if we see a huge spike in production from Holmberg next season, then you might see some regrets from general manager Brad Treliving.

Ultimately, the Maple Leafs had to make some tough decisions, and these tough decisions will not stop throughout the offseason.