Confirmed Trade: [VGK/NJD] Alexander Holtz and Akira Schmid for Paul Cotter and 2025 3rd round pick

[spfan]

At least Fitz isn’t Rob Blake.

Dubous or what? Not really related.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

We were told Holtz was worth a 1st????

Nobody said that lol

Schmid talked himself out of NJ, but Holtz is about to make Fitz look foolish

Talked how?

 

[Nemec]

Fitz shot himself in the foot when it came to Holtz. When you're a GM you shouldn't make it publicly known you hate the player. That should be kept behind closed doors. Ultimately I see Holtz having a breakout season and Fitz is going to look real stupid about it.

So far the Shara and Zetterlund jettisons produced 54 goals in one season.

Nobody said that lol


Talked how?

Maybe he sounded like a Nevadan

One cannot find a one dimensional player like Cotter in the trash bin on July 1?

 

[Double Dion]

I like Cotter as a 4th liner with bite, but jeez. You could be giving up a 30 goal scorer here. That seems pretty dumb.

 

[Kranix]

Congrats to all the devils fans who included holtz in every trade offer for 5 years

 

[Olden McGroin]

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back..
.

Your dreams were your ticket out

 

[Vegan Knight]

as a vegas fan i kind of hate this deal. cotter was a really key part of their bottom 6 and he's signed cheap for two more seasons. holtz is gonna have to beat out stone, hertl/karlsson, barbashev, dorofeyev and maybe marchessault and even potentially brisson for a spot in the top six and i just don't think he's that good? i guess he's reasonable insurance if stone can't play and marchessault walks

schmid is whatever. i guess he's still reasonably young for a goalie

Cotter made every line he played with in the top six worse and wasn't all that useful in the bottom six at all. Maybe there's a good physical fourth line winger in there who has a shot to contribute some depth scoring but he has been a net negative to this point in his career.

He didn't play a game of the Cup run or the playoffs this year and the bottom six was worse this year when he got more regular season games.

 

[Double Dion]

As someone who would REALLY like Vegas to be bad by 2026 this is not my favorite thing.

 

[Forge]

I like Cotter as a 4th liner with bite, but jeez. You could be giving up a 30 goal scorer here. That seems pretty dumb.

I can only assume that Fitz thinks the rest of his game won't ever be good enough for teams to give him the minutes necessary to get the TOI to reach 30 goals.

If he had traded him for Pospisil, I'd have been okay with what and I think this is very similar in nature I guess.

 

[Smitty426]

...waiting for the other shoe (trade) to drop for a LD man from Vegas

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

Bad return imo for Holtz would have liked to see new coach /system to see if he could put it all together...He could bust or just as easily make Fitz look stupid...Ruff totally mishandled his development

 

[Forge]

Really hope holtz finds his game in Vegas though. The trade is whatever, the bigger problem is just how bad of a miss that was in the draft. That was a really good draft in that area and the devils totally bricked it

 

[Double Dion]

I can only assume that Fitz thinks the rest of his game won't ever be good enough for teams to give him the minutes necessary to get the TOI to reach 30 goals.

If he had traded him for Pospisil, I'd have been okay with what and I think this is very similar in nature I guess.

He is one dimensional at this point. He's also 22. I think he can be a Toffoli. Toffoli is average defensively and I don't think Holtz will be, but Holtz can skate at an average level while Toffoli skates like a beer leaguer. I just think you guys are giving up some upside here for a 4th liner. It's the right type of 4th liner, but still a 4th liner.

Pospisil has bite, but he's a much better 200 foot player and much better skater than Cotter.

 

[MVP Zacha]

My feeling is that Holtz is going to be another Reid Boucher (minus the relations with an underage girl). Great shot and not much else. He will end up back playing in the SEL in 3 years. Or he does learn to skate and play a better two way game and scores 30 for the VGK.

 

[TheBeard]

Congrats to all the devils fans who included holtz in every trade offer for 5 years

Now we're gonna get all three Vegas fans on the HF Board promoting bad trades centering around him.

 

[Andre Palot]

Holtz is a megabust.

16 goals last year.

Improved all three years in the league. The Devils just for whatever reason didn't want to give him the chances he should have been getting. There is zero legitimate proof that points to Holtz being a bust just because he has matured slower than others.

He hasnt regressed, has only gotten better and therefore is not a bust.

 

[Neutrinos]

I think it's the kind of deal you make 10/10 times if you're Vegas

 

[Xirik]

I don't see how Holtz fits on the Vegas team. He's Soft as hell and can't hold the puck along the boards and his brain isn't fast enough for the NHL.

 

[Andre Palot]

He's Alex Nylander Jr

Devils fans blamed Ruff for ruining him, but he looked the same under Green & Keefe obviously wanted nothing to do with him. Looks like the report that Flames preferred Bahl over Holtz was right too.

NHL GMs valued him far differently than some Devils fans did.

1. Holtz never played under Keefe
2. Green just continued Lindys on ice policies and was an extension of Lindy despite being fired. Nothing was changed wherein Holtz would have gotten a meaningful opportunity

 

[mundyc3]

Now we're gonna get all three Vegas fans on the HF Board promoting bad trades centering around him.

Hey! There is at least six of us.

 

[justHypnos]

He is one dimensional at this point. He's also 22. I think he can be a Toffoli. Toffoli is average defensively and I don't think Holtz will be, but Holtz can skate at an average level while Toffoli skates like a beer leaguer. I just think you guys are giving up some upside here for a 4th liner. It's the right type of 4th liner, but still a 4th liner.

I'm no fan of Holtz but the Devils already have Bratt, Meier, and Mercer at RW, and that's a big problem already (they tried to force Meier to play LW last year to no success). Holtz is absolutely useless if you don't use him as a PP specialist - kind of like Hoffman - and there's no need or room for that on the Devils.

I think it's funny the Devils are having the exact same reaction to Rempe the Rangers did in 2021 to Wilson, though I think it's warranted and it shouldn't have taken a traumatic experience for the players to make Fitzgerald realize there's more to hockey than puck moving and skating fast.

 

[TheBeard]

Hey! There is at least six of us.

I'm convinced it's just three with burner accounts.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

Nobody said that lol


Talked how?

I don’t remember exactly what was said but his agent was whining on his behalf about him going to the AHL last year because he deserved to be in the NHL

 

[themelkman]

Too bad he was untouchable in the Meier deal

 

[TommyDangles]

1. Holtz never played under Keefe
2. Green just continued Lindys on ice policies and was an extension of Lindy despite being fired. Nothing was changed wherein Holtz would have gotten a meaningful opportunity

1. I never said he played under Keefe. I said he wanted nothing to do with him.
2. Holtz played the same way under Green. Lost and no hustle. Didn't deserve a meaningful opportunity.