Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 | 2 a.m.
No one, including Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy, doubted Alexander Holtz’s offensive ability when he arrived this summer in Las Vegas.
Holtz was considered a flashy player who could score but was a liability everywhere else, especially defensively. It’s the type of player Cassidy usually doesn’t favor.
But Holtz — traded to Las Vegas from the New Jersey Devils along with goalie Akira Schmid for Paul Cotter and a 2025 third-round draft pick — has evolved his game into becoming another key cog in the Golden Knights’ success as the team nears the halfway point in the season. They havea league-leading 59 points, six more than their nearest Pacific Division foes.
Through 40 games, Holtz has just 10 points, but he’s found other ways to get involved on the ice.
Holtz’s shot-blocking has elevated his game when his offense has been lacking. He’s blocked 13 shots so far, four off his career high.
“Early in the year, the puck did find him (Holtz) a lot, but they just didn’t go in,” Cassidy said. “Now, it’s either physicality, it’s forecheck reloads, it’s doing your job defensively.”
Holtz made a critical shot block Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers that led to him briefly leaving the game with injury. He scored for the first time in 11 games that same night, but it was his effort to put his body on the line that was noticed by teammates.
“He’s doing the little things to help the team win,” captain Mark Stone said. “You see him blocking shots out there as well. He’s making sure that he’s impacting the game in other ways, which is awesome.”
While Holtz may not be scoring at the same pace as last season, he said he was happy with much of his game.
“I feel like my overall game has taken really good steps this year,” Holtz said. “Obviously, when you need to block the shot, you need to go down and take it. You get a lot of credit for that from the team.”
Holtz has primarily skated on the third and fourth lines as a bottom-six forward. The rest of the rotation, however, has been fluid.
Brett Howden and Keegan Kolesar, who have usually played on the third and fourth lines, have been skating more on the second line. And Tanner Pearson, who joined the team on a paid tryout this summer, skated on the first line against the Buffalo Sabres this week.
“I’m just happy to be playing every game,” Holtz said. “Every shift I get, I try to do the best I can for them. Hopefully, that can give me more minutes.”
Holtz’s average of just over 11 minutes of ice time per game is the lowest on the roster for players who have played in every game. For Cassidy, those have been valuable minutes that could lead to more playing time for the fourth-year forward.
“He’s (Holtz) looking around and going, ‘Well, this is what I can do. If I can turn my 10 minutes into 11 minutes, by doing that, the coach trusts me, then that’s how I’m going to get on the ice more,’ Cassidy said. “That’s a sign, to me, of someone that cares and they want to get on more.”
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