I know people hated Holden... but that contract was low for what he brought and he's proven desirable for playoff teams. Not a top 4 guy, but cheap depth that can play up the lineup in spurts. Holden's biggest problem isn't Holden, it is that coaches fall in love with him and overplay him regularly.
I know, my argument against that deal has never been an indictment of Holden or his play, even though I was never a fan of the guy to be honest.
I just didn't like the timing. No reason whatsoever to sign a guy who had seven games of NHL experience previously to a multi-year, multi-million dollar, one-way deal one full year before his current contract was set to expire. They could've waited, seen whether or not his impressive output in 2014 was a fluke or if there really was something there. Even if they waited until impending free agency, I really don't think they would've had to pay THAT much more. It was just bad management. One of many completely unnecessary contracts handed out in that disastrous 2014 offseason. No surprise to me at all that none of those deals were completed in Colorado except for Johnny Malkin's, and even then the guy was waived in 2016-17, so they tried to get rid of it before then.
Holden's deal itself is fine, not backbreaking in term or $$$, but it was an example of a management team that, at the time, had no idea how to deal with a better-than-expected season. It just reeks of Sherman, very similar to other deals (Shane O'Brien anyone?) he signed players to in the past.