That was 2 years ago. He's clearly closer just by proximity to the NHL roster. He's battling with good players for a spot.
Bastian, Zetterlund, Boquist, and Mercer are all clearly NHL roster players, albeit depth players minus Mercer. It's a testament of the teams ability to stockpile this talent in the past 2-3 years.
I think he's clearly still in the mix and is ready to slot in once some of the vets contracts on up. Tatar for example, you let him walk and Holtz slides right in there and is getting tough love right now. It's easy to be down on a player when he's good trade bait.
I would at least argue that he'll still on track to replace Tatar, whether he's truly ready today or another year or two. God forbid we get hit with injuries worse than we are, but I think if you lost Tatar tomorrow for whatever reason, Holtzy slides right in to that spot pretty seamlessly today and play the minutes. He has a tough tough road ahead him to the top 6 if you look at the players ahead of him on the depth chart. If he's not traded, which may be the best for him at this point too.