In 2020, the New Jersey Devils drafted a Swedish winger who was believed to have the best shot in his draft class. Fast forward 110 NHL games later and Alexander Holtz has not been able to live up to expectations. At the time, New Jersey was in desperate need of a scoring winger and drafted Holtz to fill that void. Today, the team gained more depth on the wing, while also trying to give him playing time.
Despite the disappointing 2023-24 season, New Jersey is on the rise of being a consistent playoff team. Therefore, it is vital to construct a roster that has the correct pieces on the team. If a player is taking up a valuable spot and is not going to live up to expectations, there is no reason to keep the player. New Jersey needs to have an offseason that proves it is ready to compete. Holtz is not ready to be a consistent top-six forward and has proven to be a liability on the ice. Now, he is entering the 2024-25 season on the last year of his contract that he signed with New Jersey in 2021. He is set to become a restricted free agent (RFA) next offseason, but New Jersey should consider parting ways with him sooner.
Holtz’s 2023-24 Season
The 2023-24 season was the first season that Holtz appeared in all 82 games for the Devils. He registered 16 goals and 12 assists for 28 points. In addition, he resisted a minus-15 plus/minus and 14 penalty minutes. Looking at his stat line, he did not have a horrible season. He scored a decent amount and contributed on the offensive side. However, he has had a difficult time adjusting to the defensive side of the game that you need in the NHL.
During his season, the Swedish forward garnered criticism from former head coaches Lindy Ruff and Travis Green. Furthermore, Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald was quite blunt when talking about Holtz, “I would say if [Holtz] changes as a player, then [his ice-time] will change. He has not had a good year. I don’t believe it’s because he’s been on the fourth line. The core values that you have as a player, [being] strong on walls, puck play, puck management, are you turning pucks over? He’s shown he [can score] 13 goals in eight minutes of average ice time. It’s the other areas, the game within the game that say a lot. It matters, managing the lines, and turnovers. Those areas have to be way better.” (from ‘Devils Travis Green Benches Alexander Holtz, ‘He Knows Why’,’ NJHOCKEYNOW.COM, 4/2/24)
In 82 games, Holtz averaged 11:38 of ice time. For a player with his level of expectations, that is immensely disappointing. However, New Jersey has placed him in scenarios where he can showcase his skills. On the power play, he has continuously failed to hit the net with his shot. According to Natural Stat Trick, he registered the eighth-most power-play time on the team with 103:34 for the entire season. He finished with two power-play points and a 80.93 CF%, which ranked 13 out of 17 based on skaters who played at least five minutes on the power play. With the decent amount of chances that he had, he was not able to perform as needed.
Devils Need to Assess Holtz’s Value
During the regular season, New Jersey ranked eighth in expected goals for with 274.6, only 36.01 behind the leader, the Edmonton Oilers. Therefore, the Devils’ offense was not lacking and were able to produce, even with the plethora of injuries the team sustained. Holtz did not contribute enough to the offense, yet the team was more than productive despite his poor impact. This shows that he is not an important piece of the offense. Also, his negative impact on the ice far outweighs his positive attributes.
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With a minimum of 600 minutes played, Holtz ranked third on the team in expected goals against (xGA), registering a 36.47%. While he is still very young and could change his game dramatically, New Jersey has been waiting to see a more responsible game from him. How long can the organization wait when they are trying to compete now?
Lastly, Holtz’s trade value has plummeted after every season that he plays. He has been included in countless mock trades and seems to be a piece that the Devils fanbase would be first to offer up. Another hit that he took this year was not making Team Sweden’s World Championship roster. Former Devil, Fabian Zetterlund was able to make the final roster for Sweden, beating Holtz for a spot.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that Holtz becomes the scoring machine that the Devils drafted him to be. His irresponsible and inconsistent play puts the Devils in a tough spot and Holtz’s future in question. It is likely that the experiment will come to an end in the next year for New Jersey.
