Photo credit: TSN

Former Leaf Peter Holland has stepped in to defend Cedric Pare following a ton of backlash from Habs fans and for his hit on Patrik Laine on Saturday night.

Former Habs defenseman PK Subban took to ‘X’ on Sunday to call out Cedric Pare over his controversial hit on Patrik Laine during Saturday night’s exhibition game, calling it a cheap shot and affirming that stars need to be protected. Pare went knee-on-knee with Laine in the first period of Saturday’s game when Laine attempted to avoid the hit and left his knee exposed. Pare didn’t want to be caught flat-footed, so he attempted to clip Laine and ended up colliding knee-on-knee with him. The hit knocked Laine out of the game and the Finnish winger ended upleaving the arena on crutches, sporting a knee brace.

With all of the backlash Pare has been facing from Habs fans, Holland came to his defense on ‘X’ on Sunday evening.
“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. Just a guy trying to make it to the next level and didn’t want to get side stepped.”
 

Holland played for the Leafs from 2014 to 2017 before jumping around the AHL and KHL until he retired in 2022. He came out of retirement last year and signed a professional tryout with the Colorado Avalanche that led to an AHL deal with their AHL affiliate the Colorado Eagles, where he played 42 games with Pare. Pare has been a career AHLer and was not in the running for a roster spot on the Leafs and is expected to be cut from training camp in the coming days.