Holden was born in
Calgary,
Alberta. After playing four seasons in the
Western Hockey League with the
Regina Pats, finishing in the league's top ten in scoring in both
1995–96 and
1996–97, Holden made his
National Hockey League debut with the Canucks in the
1998–99 season, appearing in 30 games. After he played in 16 games with the Canucks over the next two seasons, he was claimed in the
NHL Waiver Draft by the
Carolina Hurricanes before the
2001–02 season. Holden played in eight games with Carolina before rejoining the Canucks' organization. He then was traded by Vancouver to the
Toronto Maple Leafs on June 23, 2002, in exchange for
Jeff Farkas. In total, he appeared in 60 NHL games, scoring five goals and nine assists. During the
2004–05 NHL lockout, Holden went to
Finland's
SM-liiga to play for
HPK. While the NHL resumed play in
2005–06, Holden stayed in
Europe, joining
HC Fribourg-Gottéron of
Switzerland's
Nationalliga A. He was named MPP of the
National League A in the 2009-2010 Season, based on an internal evaluation by the team's coaches and captains. In 2010,
EV Zug and Holden announced a long-term contract extension. On December 31, 2012, Josh Holden was part of the Canadian team that won the
Spengler Cup. On May 15, 2017, Holden agreed to a one-year contract extension to remain with the EV Zug organization and played with their affiliate, the EVZ Academy, in the
Swiss League (SL). After retiring at the end of the 2017–18 season, he became the assistant coach for EV Zug for the 2018–19 season and resigned as assistant coach in 2019–20. He is currently the head coach of HC Davos, guiding them in 2023 to their first Spengler Cup championship since 2011. ==Personal life==