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

[bleedgreen]

Crazy they gave away Holtz and Marino for spare parts. Holtz was their big pick and only had one full year up. Vegas fleeced them on this.

Meh. Holtz can’t really make the team and seemingly has been available for awhile. I suspect he didn’t have a lot of value, and Cotter played well in a bottom six role when I watched him. He’s a good fit for the Devils. Marino didn’t look good last year even though everyone knows he got overused. It’s tough to clear space for cheap. I don’t think NJ feels it in the end.

If they make the playoffs no one cares about the returns not being big enough in these deals.

 

[Forge]

Crazy they gave away Holtz and Marino for spare parts. Holtz was their big pick and only had one full year up. Vegas fleeced them on this.

The Marino thing seems to be part of a plan. Seems like pesce is already a devil, but we'll see how it goes.

I expected them to flip Marino for another nhler, but ultimately doesn't matter as they'll just spend the freed up money

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Cotter has better skating metrics than Holtz

I don't mind the Cotter for Holtz aspect of this trade at all

 

[BKarchitect]

Honestly all these pieces are probably not going to amount to much so while Vegas certainly wins on theoretical potential, at the end of the day, I don’t think we look back at this trade in 3 years and think “oh my gosh, what a steal for team ‘x’”. At that point, Cotter is probably recirculating through some other team’s bottom line-up, Holtz is being written off as Victor Olofsson 2.0 at best, Schmid is leading EV Zug to the Swiss title and the 3rd rounder will be some prospect with little chance of being anything impressive.

 

[The Hockey Tonk Man]

Holtz is a megabust.

Yeah, 22 year olds are busts…..
A lot of the guys from that draft are still developing

 

[Moist ReadOnly]

The Marino thing seems to be part of a plan. Seems like pesce is already a devil, but we'll see how it goes.

I expected them to flip Marino for another nhler, but ultimately doesn't matter as they'll just spend the freed up money

Plus two 2nds from Utah is good value, if we were only taking picks. Eventually led to the Russian goalie they took just today

 

[Andre Palot]

Don't understand trading a 7th overall pick coming off a pretty good rookie season at 5v5 production wise.

I dont either. For whatever reason this organization just didn't like Holtz.

May he become the second coming of McDavid out in Vegas.

 

[983 others]

complete nothing trade tbh

the problem is devils fans have spent years convincing themselves that holtz was actually good so now they actually believe it and they’re freaking out haha

 

[Maurice of Orange]

Holtz 16 goals with only 11:38 ATOI is actually quite impressive with not that much ice time at ES.

Vegas might have gotten a steal with this trade, Holtz could double his output with more ice time on either Eichel’s, Hertl’s or Karlsson’s wing

 

[Lou Bloom]

Smart of the New Jersey Devils to sink Holtz value then trade him at the lowest. That's how you run an organization.

Or Holtz isn’t actually that good of a player and the Devils are trading him before his value fully tanks and they end up losing him for nothing.

 

[hangman005]

No, it's because he's not very good.

The shot plays. Nothing that does right now. It's a great buy low for Vegas, but holtz has no urgency to his game

He'll fit right in then.

 

[hangman005]

I truly cannot see what Vegas' vision is. Not that Cotter is some unrecoverable loss but they moved two solid performers for picks and projects.

Neither of these moves really helps the cap situation so I don't f***ing get it

Maybe we got a signed note from the league, "Pretend to care about the salary cap but if you can't no biggie, we can try again next year.... Love Gary"

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

If VGK lets Holtz play his offensive game, he should be a consistent 20 goal scorer. He put up goals while playing with mostly scrubs for 12 minutes a night last year. His play away from the puck certainly needs to improve, but he can definitely fill the net.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Looks like Vegas is going with a three goalie system again.

 

[TS Quint]

Yeah, 22 year olds are busts…..
A lot of the guys from that draft are still developing

Yeah, if all you know about a player is the his age I guess.

It's been 4 years with the Devils. They know what they traded and it isn't limited to his age.

 

[Seanaconda]

Yay, no more Holtz proposals.

Why not ? Vegas would trade the guy tomorrow and it wouldn't be out of character

 

[Petes2424]

Jersey fans will forget about Holtz a few games into Cotter’s tenure. He’s the best player in the trade, as we speak. If Holtz ever becomes something more than he is, he’s gonna have to start earning it.

 

[Smitty426]

Jersey fans will forget about Holtz a few games into Cotter’s tenure. He’s the best player in the trade, as we speak. If Holtz ever becomes something more than he is, he’s gonna have to start earning it.

Vegas fans say otherwise

 

[archangel2]

Interesting trade

 

[VivaLasVegas]

I doubt Holtz is going to grow under a demanding coach like Cassidy but we'll see. He's got a great shot, some nice passing but everything else is mediocre to bad. Poor compete, bad off-puck positioning, weak in 50/50 battles, not involved defensively. If this wasn't the case, he would've been in the Meier or Markstrom deals. And likely the latter would've been done at the deadline last year. Teams see a kid is putting up 28 pts in very little TOI and they do their homework. And I guess most didn't like what they saw.

Devils like Daws over Schmid, have a lot of goalies in the system now. I think they felt like they know what he is, despite the tough situation he was put in.

I'm not thrilled with the return but if Cotter has speed, is okay defensively and hits, that's really all we need.

Cotter is a very hard-working lunch-pail player who occasionally will make an amazing scoring move or shot and is well worth his contract. The downside is that he's got a slightly deficient hockey IQ, probably from not being developed as an NHL-likely player until he was. Hate to lose him, you got a good one.

If Holtz doesn't work out, McCrimmon will dump him faster than month-old gravy. Schmid seems to be the real exchange here with Logan Thompson leaving and Vegas is very good at turning goalies around.

 

[Vegan Knight]

Cotter is a very hard-working lunch-pail player who occasionally will make an amazing scoring move or shot and is well worth his contract. The downside is that he's got a slightly deficient hockey IQ, probably from not being developed as an NHL-likely player until he was. Hate to lose him, you got a good one.

If Holtz doesn't work out, McCrimmon will dump him faster than month-old gravy. Schmid seems to be the real exchange here with Logan Thompson leaving and Vegas is very good at turning goalies around.

McCrimmon apparently said Schmid is the plan at third string and they're still in the market for a backup.

 

[The Duck Knight]

McCrimmon apparently said Schmid is the plan at third string and they're still in the market for a backup.

Which makes the Thompson trade even dumber IMO. Should have given LT the reigns. Moved the more injury prone Hill and signed whatever backup they're planning on. LT-____-Schmid plus an extra 4 million to spend up front would be better for the team.

 

[Ruutu Tootoo]

It’s funny. We’ve seen an incredible asset management trade and a horrible asset management trade by the Devils today.

At the end of the day, the Devils needed to cut their losses with Holtz and open up a roster spot for someone who’s going to play to the Devils identity and the way management and staff envision this team.

Edit: Grammar

 

[JKG33]

Which makes the Thompson trade even dumber IMO. Should have given LT the reigns. Moved the more injury prone Hill and signed whatever backup they're planning on. LT-____-Schmid plus an extra 4 million to spend up front would be better for the team.

Are they not both super injury prone?

 

[The Duck Knight]

Are they not both super injury prone?

They both have had injuries, but Hill has been worse and has 5 times the cap hit. Last year was the first time Hill has played 35 games and LT still played more.