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Vegas Golden Knights Report Card: Nick Holden

By Andrew Steele-Davis

LAS VEGAS, NV - JANUARY 08: Nick Holden #22 of the Vegas Golden Knights battles Brady Skjei #76 of the New York Rangers for the puck during the second period at T-Mobile Arena on January 8, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - JANUARY 08: Nick Holden #22 of the Vegas Golden Knights battles Brady Skjei #76 of the New York Rangers for the puck during the second period at T-Mobile Arena on January 8, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 6: Nick Holden #22 of the Vegas Golden Knights waits for play to resume during the third period of the game against the Los Angeles Kings at STAPLES Center on April 6, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NHLI via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 6: Nick Holden #22 of the Vegas Golden Knights waits for play to resume during the third period of the game against the Los Angeles Kings at STAPLES Center on April 6, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Nick Holden’s struggles to make a mark in the NHL continued in 2018-19 after he failed to really impress for the Vegas Golden Knights.

Nick Holden: Grade D-

Another day means another Report Card as we continue to assess every player who laced up their skates for the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018-19. Today it’s the turn of Nick Holden who endured a tough first year in Sin City…

His Season

Signed as a free agent by the Vegas Golden Knights on July, 1, 2018 after inking a two-year, $4.4 million contract, Nick Holden was brought in to add some depth to the blueline.

After a mixed 2017-18 which saw the left-shot begin the year with the New York Rangers before being dealt to the Boston Bruins at the Trade Deadline, Holden hit free agency and was swiftly picked up by the Knights.

Holden arrived in Sin City seen very much as a depth defenseman to help bolster the defensive options on the depth chart and provide competition for the likes of Jon Merrill and Brad Hunt.

It panned out that way with the 32-year-old spending large chunks of the season as a third-pair defenseman.

He spent 37.20 percent of the year playing third-line minutes alongside Merrill, while he also played alongside two high-end blueliners in Colin Miller and Shea Theodore for 24.55 percent and 16.81 percent of the season respectively.

Holden was on the ice for 2.65 goals per-60 and, perhaps more noteworthy here, the Knights had a save percentage of .904 with Holden on the ice, which was worse among team defenseman at 5-on-5 according to naturalstattrick.com.

His offensive production was steady, if not spectacular, with three goals and 12 assists for 15 points in 61 regular season games, while he only skated in one playoff game with a plus / minus rating of -2.

Defensively, Holden’s core stats were okay with 76 blocked shots, 104 hits and 26 takeaways while he averaged 18:18 minutes of ice time per game, which is impressive given his struggles at times.

There are some positive stats that jump out at you, however, with Holden having a CF% of 55.7 and a oZS% of 56.5.

But, overall, it wasn’t a vintage year by any means for Holden who has seen a clear regression in his game over the last three years.

He spent time on the injured reserve list in February and, as already mentioned, was almost a no-show in the postseason after being scratched for six of the Golden Knights’ seven playoff contests.

Entering the final year of his deal with a cap hit of $2,200,000 in 2019-20, Holden could well find himself expendable as the Vegas Golden Knights continue to explore ways to create cap space in order to sign Russian stud Nikita Gusev to a new deal.

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