Devils Deal Holtz & Schmid to Vegas!?

        Late in the second day of the NHL Draft (round six of the seven rounds), the New Jersey Devils made a trade that would have been laughed at, had it been made a year earlier.

The Devils traded right wing Alexander Holtz and goaltender Akira Schmid to the Las Vegas Golden Knights for forward Paul Cotter and Las Vegas's third-round draft choice in 2025.

Despite some questionable usage by former coach Lindy Ruff, the former seventh overall choice in 2020, Holtz scored sixteen goals with twelve assists last season and is still only twenty-two.

The hero of the Devils 2023 playoff win over the Rangers, Akita Schmid split last season between New Jersey and AHL Utica, playing in nineteen NHL games with a 3.15 GAA and a save percentage of .895.

The twenty-four-year-old Schmid had fallen behind Nico Daws among the Devils younger goalies and I suppose going elsewhere might be a good career move for Schmid, who could benefit from slotting in as someone's top goalie in the AHL.

In return, New Jersey adds Paul Cotter, a 6'2 forward, who plays a physical game that Tom Fitzgerald constantly covets.

Cotter will turn twenty-five in November and played seventy-six games last season, scoring seven goals with eighteen assists.

Cotter won a Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights in 2023 and he may be most known for this back suplex last season on Florida's Matthew Tkachuk.

I have to say, I'm not a fan of this trade.

Paul Cotter might add some muscle to the fourth line and I know how Tom Fitzgerald loves that (trading for Kurtis Macdermid and then his ridiculous contract extension belies that) and I can understand giving Akira Schmid a chance to play elsewhere.

However, I'm not happy with including Alexander Holtz in the trade.

Holtz scored sixteen goals last season and might be my choice as the player who suffered the most from Lindy Ruff's tenure in New Jersey.

Holtz is still young, and has room to grow, and yet the Devils botched his development by not playing him regularly in Newark or Utica.

The Devils made a mistake in not allowing Alexander Holtz a chance to work with a new coaching staff and their system as I believe Holtz has more value than the Devils received for him and Akira Schmid.

We now wait and see if the Devils have made a mistake. 

Devils select Alexander Holtz

  The New Jersey Devils with the first of their three first-rounders in the 2020 NHL draft selected Swedish right-winger Alexander Holtz with the seventh selection of the first round.

At 18, the six-foot even, 185 pound Holtz was regarded by many as the best pure goal scorer in the draft, and playing in the Swedish Hockey League (Sweden's top league) against adult players, Holtz shouldn't be intimidated by the NHL.

Holtz finished the 2019-20 season with nine goals and seven assists in thirty-five games for Djurgardens and has received raves for his quick and accurate shot.

Holtz seems to be a fit at the Devils' greatest position of need as New Jersey sees Holtz as an eventual first-line winger.

The Devils hadn't selected a wing in the first round since Mattias Tedenby in 2008 and hadn't selected a right-wing going back to 2005 with the addition of Nicklas Bergfors.

Holtz was one of three players that draft observers had connected to New Jersey with the other two players going shortly after Holtz with centers Marco Rossi going ninth overall to Minnesota and Cole Perfetti taken at tenth to Winnipeg.

I never claim to be as knowledgable about the NHL draft as I am with the NFL and NBA drafts, but Holtz seems to be the Devils first step in surrounding Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier with shooters to allow their young centers to have players that can finish around them.

The Devils lack that type of player and Holtz is a good addition with the type of shot that playing with Jack Hughes could be a forty goal player eventually.

I liked what I've seen of both Rossi and Perfetti, but this time with three pretty equal players, the position need, combined with the ability to bring more out of what you consider to be your franchise foundation player in Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, I am understanding of how the Devils are thinking here under new general manager Tom Fitzgerald.

Corey Pronman, who covers the NHL Draft for the Athletic writes this report on Holtz, and All About the Jersey offers their thoughts here.

The Devils own the 18th and 20th picks in the round from Arizona and Vancouver and I'll be back later or tomorrow with the picks in those slots.