Career
He started his career in the Elitserien team Brynäs IF. He played for their senior team from 1996 to 2000, winning a Swedish championship in 1999. He then signed with the New York Rangers, who had drafted Holmqvist in the 1997 National Hockey League Entry Draft (7th round/175 pick overall). Holmqvist played three National Hockey League games for the Rangers between 2000 and 2003.
Most of his time was spent with the Rangers" farm team Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL. On March 11, 2003, Holmqvist was traded to Minnesota Wild for Lawrence Nycholat.
The following season, 2003/04, he played with the aeronautics At the end of the season, he decided to move back to Sweden where 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, a National Hockey League club
He played with them for almost two years, putting up mixed numbers. He was traded at the 2008 trade deadline to the Dallas Stars along with Brad Richards for a number of players, including Mike Smith and Jeff Halpern.
On July 23, 2008, he signed a contract with the Swedish club Frölunda The Human Context.
Holmqvist has represented Sweden in two World Championships, 2005 and 2006.
He was Sweden"s starting goaltender in 2006 and lead Sweden to their first gold medal in a World Championship since 1998, for which he was selected as the tournament"s best goaltender.
