Sadly, Holtz probably would have been sent to the AHL if he was on Nashville this year, just like Tomasino and Parssinen were. Just by virtue of being waiver-exempt. Not by his own short-coming particularly, rather just because the organization preferred older tweener types of players to round out the roster (Jankowski, Smith, McCarron, Sherwood) over younger NHL-ready prospects.
Hard to say for next season... but still being waiver exempt wouldn't bode well for Holtz, from what we've seen so far under Brunette/Trotz.