On Tuesday August 18th, the Kansas City Mavericks announced the signing of Canadian left-winger Robbie Holmes. Holmes agreed to terms on a standard player agreement for the upcoming season.
Holmes has spent the last four seasons in the Western Hockey League, one of the three Canadian major junior leagues. In his 231 career WHL games, Holmes recorded 51 goals along with 63 assists for 114 points. While he played most of his tenure in Regina, Holmes also collected 244 penalty minutes.
Holmes had a breakout season in his final year with the Pats last year, where in 57 games, he scored 19 goals along with 29 assists for 48 points. Joining his season statistics, Holmes, a left-handed shooter, added 82 penalty minutes.
Holmes is a physical forward and a decent skater and he’s become a much improved offensive player over the past season. While he won’t blow you away with soft hands and quick dekes, Holmes knows how to get into the scoring areas of the ice and score the greasy goals. Furthermore, his growth from a hockey IQ standpoint is shown by his career high 29 assists in his final season in 2019-20. His previous career high was a mere 13 assists.
Holmes is only 21 years old, so this is a young guy who is going to be very hungry to climb the ranks of professional hockey. For some players, that climb begins in the ECHL. Holmes will be able to learn not only how to play hockey at a professional level, but what it takes off the ice to be a full time professional athlete. This of course being the case in the ECHL and beyond. Mavericks fans should be very excited to have a young guy with toughness and skill on the hockey club’s roster for the upcoming season.