A former Toronto Maple Leafs player has stepped in to defend Cedric Pare following an incident in the club's pre-season game against the Montreal Canadiens that resulted in an injury to Patrik Laine.
Peter Holland took to social media to give his two cents on Pare.
"Played with Pare last year. He’s not a dirty player and has really good hockey sense. Unfortunate circumstance with Laine but I know there was no intent to injure," Holland said in a post on his X account on Sunday. "Just a guy trying to make it to the next level and didn’t want to get side stepped."
Holland came out of retirement last year when he signed a professional tryout with the Colorado Avalanche. He later signed an AHL deal with the Eagles and played in 42 games with Pare. Holland played in 174 games with the Leafs where he collected 25 goals and added 38 assists over four seasons.
During the first period of the Leafs' 2-1 pre-season win against the Canadiens on Saturday, Pare and Laine were involved in a knee-on-knee collision.
Laine had to be helped off the ice after his leg bent awkwardly on the contact. No penalty was given on the play, but Canadiens enforcer Arber Xhekaj sought retribution the next time both he and Pare were on the ice, with repeated punches to the head.
Xhekaj was assessed 27 minutes in penalties and was ejected from the game. On Sunday, he was fined $3,385.42, the maximum allowable for fines under the NHL's collective bargaining agreement.
"It's a fast game, it wasn't my intention, I didn't mean to do that," Pare told TSN's Mark Masters after the game.
The Maple Leafs and Canadiens are scheduled to meet in their respective season openers at Bell Centre on Oct. 9. It's highly unlikely Pare would be on the roster at that time given his current place on the team's depth chart.
As of this writing, the Canadiens haven't updated the injury severity for Laine.
