Canucks look set to pick up Elias Lindholm in trade from Calgary ...
The Canucks traded Andrei Kuzmenko, two defence prospects and a pair of draft picks for Lindholm
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Published Jan 31, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 2 minute read
The Vancouver Canucks aren’t fooling around.
Hours after their senior managers admitted they were hoping to get ahead of the NHL trade market, they did just that.
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Wednesday afternoon, Canucks GM Patrik Allvin made his boldest move yet: he added handy two-way forward Elias Lindholm from the Calgary Flames in a trade.
And the price really isn’t that steep: going to Calgary are winger Andrei Kuzmenko, the Canucks’ 1st round pick in this summer’s draft, a conditional fourth round pick, plus a pair of long-shot defence prospects in Joni Jurmo and Hunter Brzustewicz.
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Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford has long been known for looking to get trades done well ahead of the NHL trade deadline — which this season isn’t until early March — and he even joked on Toronto radio on Wednesday that he and Allvin could make a trade before this weekend’s All-Star festivities in Toronto.
Lindholm is a big pickup for Vancouver; he’s a highly-effective two way forward who can play centre or wing. He was a finalist just two seasons ago for the Selke trophy as the league’s best defensive forward and will likely make a good fit alongside centre Elias Pettersson.
That 2021-22 season he did have Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk as linemates, so that would have a fair bit to do with his two-way success that season, but it’s also an obvious sign he’d be a good fit to play with a high-octane player like Pettersson.
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Kuzmenko is making $5.5 million this season and the next but hadn’t scored since Christmas and only had two assists in January, despite plenty of time alongside Pettersson.
Interestingly, Lindholm’s cap hit is $650,000 cheaper than Kuzmenko’s, so the Canucks have actually cleared a little cap space in the deal while also adding the best player.
“I think people look at him and see a good player, but they don’t see the great player that we see,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska told the Calgary Herald recently. “He does everything really well and we know that, but some people around the league don’t see his offensive ability. He has proven in the past that he can play with high-end guys. He’s proven in the past, and continues to prove today, that he can shut top guys down. So we know it, but I don’t think everybody appreciates the type of player that he is.
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This is the second deal between the longtime Pacific Division rivals, after the Canucks picked up Nikita Zadorov in a trade at the end of November from the Flames.
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