Toronto Maple Leafs humiliated yet again as former forward thrives with the Lightning

This offseason, Pontus Holmberg became a restricted free agent, and this forced the Toronto Maple Leafs into a difficult decision involving a qualifying offer.

In the end, the Leafs opted not to do a qualifying offer, which means Holmberg could go wherever he wanted. After just a few hours, he quickly chose the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Since joining the Lightning, Holmberg has one goal and five assists in 17 games. He has been getting a lot of love from Jon Cooper, and there is no denying that his role has been stamped out.

In fact, Holmberg is doing something in Tampa Bay that the Toronto Maple Leafs desperately need right about now. The fact that they let him walk is yet another embarrassing fact of life.

After the Lightning's most recent game, head coach Jon Cooper had endless praise for Holmberg, which just goes to show that this is, in fact, a good player.

The Maple Leafs gave up Holmberg for nothing, which is hard to believe. He could have fetched the Leafs some draft capital they so desperately need.

Now, the Tampa Bay Lightning are starting to find their rhythm, and for the Leafs, this is bad news as the Lightning are an Atlantic Division rival.

Going forward, it remains to be seen whether or not the Leafs will figure things out, but there is no denying that they need to figure it out fast.

The Leafs are better than they are playing, but at a certain point, fans are going to stop believing that for good.