Most of his time was spent with the Rangers' farm team, the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL.

On March 11, 2003, Holmqvist was traded to the Minnesota Wild for Lawrence Nycholat.

Holmqvist played the rest of the season with the Wild's farm team, the Houston Aeros of the AHL, and won the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as MVP of the Calder Cup Playoffs as Houston won the league championship.

At the end of the season, he decided to move back to Sweden where he signed with his former club, Brynäs IF.

He played with them for two seasons and then, on June 1, 2006, he signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning, an NHL club.