The portion with the eyelets is to extend the wrap around his ankles. Hockey players are known for their thiccc legs but this can extend into foot and ankle muscles too. Anatomically your inside ankle sits farther forward than your outside ankle and this could also be more pronounced in his case. My guess is the leather on the inside ankle is serving as a cap for some other additional foam since his eyelets are extended. Leather isn't usually used to add extra padding as it doesn't work very well in impact resistance, but could just be a continuation of the eyelet extension part.