Dan Milstein (Zadorov’s agent) just called this report ‘fake news’ So it’s probably fair to say the real truth is in the middle. Zadorov’s agent likely leaked the initial report to Dhali, while the Canucks leaked this report to IMac.
I’d say the biggest bombshell when reading between the lines is that it suggests Lindholm is at least interested in returning, even if negotiations are less close than suggested here.
Especially if it ends up being in overpay territory. Lindholm is a Swiss Army knife that adds so much extra versatility to our core. There isn’t a player on the market that brings what he does without us giving up a boatload of assets in a trade. Meanwhile Zadorov is a very good 4-5D that can be replaced with an inferior version for a fair price.
Yeah the Canucks can’t afford the big Z, we might if we didn’t have OEL payments. He was a treat to watch, had a huge presence on the ice and in the room, but he’s a luxury we can’t afford. Thanks JB 👍🏼
He's not just a 4-5D though. The intangibles he brings to a playoff environment is not found easily. And if we lose Joshua too, we're a soft team again, without the top end talent of a team like the Oilers to overcome that.
Do we even have the money? I thought we were going to be tight against the cap with our September projections, I don’t know how we’re throwing a 2C into the mix and somehow making it work
Either way I got a weird gut feeling about Lindholm. Dude scares me as a potential Eriksson candidate. He’s had a few consecutive down years but still has a good enough reputation and age to muster a pretty decent contract from his reputation of being a 1C. He had a strong playoffs but you can’t expect a guy to play with that much intensity for 82 games a season. If you got him for 5-7 at 2C money I’d be tempted but for anything north of that I think it’s a gamble
Bit of a gamble for sure. But, I think this management group has earned a few gambles given their past performance. Feels weird to say this after the dark ages of Benning, but I trust them to make better choices than I would.
To be fair to lindholm, he contributed well to the run we just had. Louie never contributed anything in his tenure here. Pretty sure in his first game as a Canuck he scored an own goal..
Lindholm hasn’t actually signed with Vancouver so he could disappoint after he gets a big deal but he has played well for a stretch in the playoffs. Which is an important time for players to show up.
I’m on the fence. If he signs that would be great, but if he goes I’m sure we will continue to grow as a team.
No, but the Canucks probably aren’t going to namedrop Lindholm in a (presumed) negotiation leak if they already know he’s going to walk
The leak about Zadorov being on track to walk this morning almost certainly was from Milstein to put pressure on the Canucks. It’s par for the course for him. This leak in response is likely from the Canucks to diffuse the situation and show confidence they’ll get there.
Unless they’re only mentioning Lindholm as a bluff to try to say ‘Hey, if you don’t lower your ask we’ll just sign Lindholm and let you walk’, which is totally possible. But it feels more likely it’s not a total bluff as that’s too easy to backfire
*defuse the situation
And yupp, totally agree with that assessment. Milstein has a long history of negotiating through the media.
Really hoping they didn’t just drop Lindholm’s name as a bluff, either. He deepens our roster by so damn much.
Part of me thinks Imac called Allvin to ask about the assistant coach additions and then brought up the UFA’s and Allvin said his usual “we are in talks with them yada yada yada.” Who knows if they have contacted their agents or not. It’s also a way to save face for if Z or Lindholm leave in UFA and then the Canucks could say they tried in good faith to negotiate and they “didn’t run out of time.” LOL
I don’t think it’s all that helpful. In fact, leaking shit to the press can really work against you.
My thoughts are if anything gets out to the press, contract valuations go down. I don’t care either way if they lose a player that way. It’s unprofessional. They’re playing games with millions of dollars on the line.
Which leads me to a final thought. You’ll win every single negotiation if you’re willing to walk away. If he thinks he’s too cool for school, let him walk, and see who picks him up…
> so it's probably fair to say the real truth is in the middle.
We will be signing 2/3rds of Zadorov's and only 1/3rd of Lindholm.
We get Zadorov's during the weekdays and we get Lindy on weekends and holidays ♥
What number are you happy to get him for? I'm thinking if they can pull off something in the 6s, that would be a slam dunk. Low 7s could be good. 7.5m and over AAV is where I get a little disinterested.
I think he'll easily go for more than we can afford unless he takes a cut. $7.5 I'd call fair, but I just don't see how this team can afford to rebuild so much of the roster in free agency with the cap increasing.
It's all about term. We have the extra year, so a 7 x 8 would equal his rumored ask of 8M on the market, while 7.25 x 8 would exceed the total amount of money in an 8.25 x 7 and be only 1.5M less than a 8.5 x 7
The only way he'd stay is the full 8. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that but I don't think we can find two top 6 wingers in FA if we let Lindholm walk (let's be realistic, I think we balk on Necas because they want one of our top 2 Swede prospects). Most with the chops to play with Petey would be gone in the first few hours or so.
Lindholm is a Tocchett player for sure. Physical, great along the boards, just a pain to play against. You can see he was on Draisaitl like glue. Having him as your 3C or 1st PP unit is such a luxury. I hope they can make it happen
I mean, his line was the second line and not by a small margin and also was taking on head to head matchups and leading our PK. The way we rolled out our lineup essentially put the Petey line as a supercharged offensive 3rd line and they still came up short. Lindholm and Garland on the second line pulled their own weight.
He's not a puck possessing play driver as much as he is a positional player in both ends. That's not a weakness, it's just a different player type. You can't stack 3 guys who need the puck to make a difference on the same line - and the play driver isn't always the best player either. He can drive to the net which is a huge asset we don't have a lot of, skates well, has a good shot, and is borderline elite defensively.
Wouldn’t be surprised if this leak came directly from Allvin. We already know they are totally fine with using the media to negotiate. Look at the Pettersson saga
Yes, very true.
Myself I usually blame the owners for this sort of thing because I've watched Friedman for so long... GMs come and go but it's like the owners have him on speed dial. During the Benning era there were particularly hairy leaks about players and I always thought it was safe to assume it was in blueberry farm Aquilini's character to dish out the dirt to the media.
But ya, for sure it could be Allvin/Rutherford leaks.
Galaxy brain stuff here. On Donnie and Dhali, Dhali was going off about how Milstein said him and Canucks management didn't even meet at the combine in Buffalo recently. Dhaliwal came across as Milstein not being too happy with things. My galaxy brain theory, Canucks are pushing Mikheyev to accept a trade to wherever they can move him or threatening a buyout. Milstein is frustrated with management over Kuzmenko and now Mikheyev handlings.
I dont think there is a problem with either handling, coach treated both very fair, Kuzy got his money, but clearly struggled with plenty of opportunity this year, Mik chose to hold off knee surgery last year, and up untill the playoffs the coach was always very careful with his comments regarding his struggles post game.... I think next season Mik is going to get his legs back a yr and a half post surgery, and this games going to pick up, with some PK guys leaving his role will be there in a big way. Its very possible big Z wants to play here, but the canucks arent getting to where his camp wants, they porobably came up a bit(hence the story) but Milstein wants it higher. Either way we start getting over 5 million with a long term commitment, I get worried, if we can keep the cap hit down but give him term I am all on board.
You shouldn't trust what Milstein says either. He has an agenda to maximize Zadorov's leverage and he's not going to confirm anything until both sides put their signatures on paper.
IMac is employed by the team and at the end of the day, is a mouthpiece for them. It's why you never, ever really hear him criticize the Canucks that much.
Depends what traction means: it might just mean they have a clear sense of what it would take as both sides have sharpened their pencils. He really hedged saying there’s a world where they keep both, neither, or either one so while they might just be close to ‘the numbers’ they might not be close to the decision on what to do with those numbers.
Basically just saying he’s gone then lmao
Man with all the UFA’s we have expiring this off-season I hope it goes a little better than 2020. Nobody sign Holtby
I find it hilarious that an hour ago an "update" gets posted that Zadorov and the Canucks haven't had contract talks since the playoffs, and now there has been "significant traction" vancouver media baby
Exactly, and that's why I posted this tweet. Also I believe IMac a lot more than the other guy, Griffith, who got his news from Area51sportsnet.com....
edit: oh, Griffith retweeted his own story, he writes for Area51sportsnet.com so point still stands I believe IMac's reporting more.
edit2: and now Milstein said IMac's reporting is fake news.. Ouch
At this time, I really don't want to keep Zadorov unless it's a big discount from the numbers being thrown around. Anything over 5m would be disastrous, and I don't even think he's worth anything over 4m.
Are you guys referring to his on ice value or market value?
I can’t help but think he’s worth more, easily in the 5-5.5 range. Dudes a generally stable defenceman that’s 6’5 250lbs and can give you 20 minutes a night who can play on the PK. Not to mention he had a strong playoffs on a contract year and had more goals than most of our players. GM’s are willing to pay for bad dmen if they have size, how much are they willing to pay for a good dman with size?
This is why the previous commenter mentioned market value vs on ice value. On ice value, 100%, I agree we shouldn’t pay him that. But his market value is going to be very high.
Our bottom 4 is really a 2A and 2B. Foote mixed and matched all season and we saw them deployed pretty evenly in terms of ice time. I'd argue he's a number 4 D man, or righhhhht on the cusp of it.
Yes? It doesn’t really matter when our 5th D is only playing a minute less than the #3 or #4
It was clear that we had a ‘bottom 4’ as opposed to a strong second pairing and sheltered third pairing. Not to mention Myers is turning 37, dude isn’t going to be a top 4 caliber player for much longer. Whether you see it as a second or third pairing I don’t know, but I see him as a guy that can get you 20 minutes a night with minutes on the PK. That plus 6’5 250 isn’t cheap in the NHL
People see how Z performed these playoffs & also kept every other team/aggressor in check whenever he was on the ice.
Intangibles & skill like that don't come for 3m , I would imagine it'll be around 4.5 - 5ish mil - if he hit FA he could easily get 6x6 - but he & his wife loves Van & thinks he could win here so he (hopefully) is willing to take a pay cut to stay, as long as Van gives him the years he wants.
I know hes a 5-6 pairing and you don't want to overpay, but he's not a bad defensemen and can score a bit, plus his bully factor is immense. He was smashing stars with zero retribution. I feel like without him we start to be the bullied ones again. He gave the confidence to guys like Myers to be more aggressive. He's so important to the team imo
I think we can't look at it in a vacuum. Zaddy with Myers is a decent bottom 4 pairing that can play 18-20 mins a night. That's not nothing.
Previously, we had Myers at 6M so a swap of salaries still means the line-up is the same, even if on paper, Zaddy is our 3rd LD behind Soucy and Huggy.
Lindholm shifts this team from a strong team, to a legitimate contender.
He was our best player these playoffs, hands down. (Before I get critiqued here, HMs to Garland, Boeser, Silovs, Myers and Zadorov)
I'd argue Miller was a beast as well. It's not a fluke that the guys that came up big for us were all big guys, with the exception of Garland who just refuses to get the message.
Boes was our second heaviest forward last season. Second only to Miller. Our 8 heaviest guys as listed are in order - Zadorov>Myers>Cole>Miller>Boeser=Soucy>Joshua>Lindholm>the rest of the team.
Lindy may be close to average around the league, but our team is way undersized on average. Without our pending free agents, the Canucks are listed as the smallest team for 2025 in the league. Easy to figure out when the 3 biggest and 5 of the 8 biggest guys are all part of that free agent group.
I know listed weights aren't perfect, but our teams forward group is clearly quite easy to push around if you remove the bigger butts.
So you really meant non-small guys, then 😂
Yeah, I agree that small dudes are at a disadvantage in the playoffs. That said, I don’t think Petey’s struggles were the result of the size. He was ace in the bubble playoffs (not quite the same I know, but still a decent representation nonetheless).
Quinn, yeah, he got smushed.
Well Petey was injured. If you want to blame him for something blame him for not going on LTIR. Or better yet blame the management and couches for not making him do it.
That’s what I meant by “we all know how that went down”. I didn’t blame him, but I also didn’t absolve him of blame either, so I understand your need to clarify.
what we need out of Lindholm is someone like RNH: a second line 2 way middle who is on both special teams and can occasionally pop off offensively. Unfortunately RNH took a discount and Lindholm likely won't.
It's more than just wild lol.. Only one guy was in competition for best other than Miller and it was Brock
His defensive positioning and puck battles were great. Let alone the goals
It’s definitely not wild. He was a matchup defensive center that contributed a lot offensively, and played incredibly well on our PK. He was ruthless on the forecheck, blocked shots, and hit like a dump truck
Yes he did do those things. It’s still absolutely wild to suggest he was the best player. Guys like Miller had wayyy more of a workload and obviously Hughes’ contributions are on an entirely different spectrum than Lindholms. Can’t confuse a guy playing his best with a guy being the best on a team.
Lindholm played 5x more than Miller on the PK, against the best powerplay in NHL history, and the hottest Powerplay in the league coming into the playoffs. How is that not an insane workload? He then was the defensive center taking draws when we had the lead, and would often get put out for extra duty faceoffs after his shifts. RT mentioned he was incredibly accommodating of their matchup demands.
yeah and honestly we could go after another big body to fill in a Garland/Lindholm line.
Lindholm can be on our third line and still hit 17-19 minutes a night
If we’re keeping him, it’s not going to be so he can play on the 3rd line. He needs top 6 minutes to produce the numbers we’re going to expect if he signs.
Tocchet likes to roll 3 lines with strong C depth. Depending on Lindholm AAV I don't think it's a problem having him center the third line with a guy like Garland on his wing.
It just means you have to go cheap on the third player for each line which we currently have with Suter and Hoglander. I think we'd have to figure out how to move out Mikheyev though and shift that money.
That "third line" is only a "third line" in name, they played more than Peteys line 5v5. Just look at Lindholms deployment in the playoffs, he was getting pp1 and pk1 time and was 3rd in ATOI for forwards, expect similar TOI/deployment if he re-signs.
yeah, but he'd have to be paid appropriately. We can't justify having Miller at 8, Petey at 11.6 playing top 6 minutes, and then Lindholm at like 7 mil to play 3C. Unless they primarily used him in the top 6 either as a winger or moving Petey over, but dropped him down to create more depth down the middle for defensive matchups/defending leads
Miller, Petey, Lindholm and Suter down the middle is insane depth. And the outside chance we get re-sign Blueger to swap with Suter is so awesome.
That said, the wingers will be weaker with all that cap space down the middle.
yeah but at the time, Miller was making only 5.25 mil, Bo was making 5.5 and Petey was 7.35. Now, Miller and Pettersson are making that much money between just the two of them.
Also they got a lot offensively out of Bo on the PP because of him being a lefty shot facing Miller's passes into the bumper. They'd have to totally rework the PP to utilize Lindholm in the bumper to the same effectiveness.
The calculus is definitely a bit different now. And you’d ideally have that left shot bumper guy, although Lindy made some plays from there and could likely play net-front.
Moreso what I am getting at though is, when I think of 3C’s I think of someone playing <15 mins/night.
Jesus Christ no he was not our best player and that's beyond ridiculous. Both Miller and Brock outplayed him just to pick from one line
If you can't see how much better those two were than him then i don't know what to say
Then don’t say anything, because it’s not as ridiculous as you’re making it seem. All 3 had fantastic playoffs. Lindholm was the ace up our sleeve that we kept throwing out there. He played in every situation, and was our 1st option defensively.
Lindholm had double the blocked shots as JT and BB, and 5x the SH TOI. He also had double the GWG as both.
Hughes had the lowest shots against in the league when on the ice in the playoffs.
And consistently was up against the other teams top guys.
I know he wasn’t as flashy offensively as in the season but the guy was absolutely playing elite level number one d man level of play.
The main problem with Lindholm is you're kind of rolling the die on which player you're getting. Is it the guy who played 12 great games on the playoffs this year, or the guy who was dragging his feet the past two years in Calgary?
40g Lindholm was between one of the monster lines in Johnny G and Tkachuk- we don't have that here.. unless you're slotting him between Miller and Petey.
25-35 goals plus Selke level play is perfect, and exactly what we need. Let Miller Boeser and Petey fight to be our 40 goal scorers, they’re all capable of it.
We’ll see - Harman Dayal at the Athletic wrote a pretty compelling article arguing that his cap hit was better spent elsewhere given his drop off last year.
7.9m, with an average projected value of 4.9 over a 7 year deal. The first year he'd be projected to give a 5.7m value, so even coming right out of the gate, it's not good. Or, at least, it doesn't fit what we need and how we're built.
Oh fuck, ya that would be a disaster. Getting paid JT money essentially to likely play lower in the lineup and not produce as much. Based on that assumption that's 100% a no go zone. If they signed him to that number either: JT is going back to the wing or Petey is going to the wing. My money would be on JT as Petey as always looked out of place as a winger.
I think, on a team without a JT Miller and an Elias Pettersson, it could make sense. But otherwise, he's a luxury that would prevent us from filling holes elsewhere.
Which drop off? He was phenomenal this run with us. Also, we played him at 3C. If he’s 2C, we have a legitimate top 6 with Pettersson on the wing.
Petey-Lindholm-Hoglander
Suter-Miller-Boeser
Suter isn’t the sexiest name, but the advanced stats show that this line dominates both ends of the ice together
With a healthy Petey… that lineup is nasty
He had 15 goals and 44 points this season. Just 32 in 49 last season. I know he had an amazing playoffs but I think we’re all forgetting that his production as a whole has been trending downward. That’s not really what you want to see when you’re talking about signing a guy to a 7+ year deal
Right. There’s a reason that you’re stopping your stat watching there, and ignoring his injury history, and the lack of talent that he’s had to play with the last 2 years on a horrendous team. The season before that he finished a Selke finalist with 40 goals.
Yes, it was with Tkachuk and Gaudreau. We have players for him to play with that can be just as good; Pettersson, Miller, Boeser, Hughes.
He brings an entirely different dynamic to the Canucks, in all 3 zones. He should be the priority.
What injury history? He was injured this season but played 80 and 82 games the previous two seasons. And in the All Canadian division he played all 56 games.
You could argue that his one big season playing with Gaudreau and Tkachuk was the “outlier” season.
I do agree that he is still good defensively and brings the “intangibles” you would want.
Lindholm’s career earnings is 32M. You could argue he has been underpaid the last 4-5 seasons so he will be looking to secure the bag on what could be his last big contract.
He is the best “natural” center available as a UFA. He is going to get the bag.
The injury he suffered as Canuck that made everyone think he sucked until he popped the fuck off in the playoffs and was imo the best player on our roster
You can’t just make the injury excuse. Injury history is another red flag that you have to consider when you’re signing an aging player to a long term deal that will take them into their mid-late thirties.
And sure he was great 3 seasons ago but that’s almost irrelevant now. I was just pointing out his downward trend in production. He’s produced less and less each year for the past 3 years. We are going to need him to not only bounce back and start producing more but also sustain that for 5+ years.
Here’s the thing; I didn’t “just” make the injury excuse. It was one of many points I can make about him.
Terrible team with no help
Was disinterested since the Tkachuk and Gaudreau departures
Didn’t like the Calgary vision
Injury
Acclimating to a new team
Tremendous playoffs this year
Selke finalist with 40 goals the season prior to Calgary’s shitstorm
I remember hearing a lot of the “disinterested” and “didn’t like the team’s vision” stuff when we got OEL too.
I like Lindholm a lot and he brought something we desperately needed. I do hope we can keep him but it’s important to discuss the risks involved
OEL was great for us his first year here. Didn’t he play on a fractured foot all year last year? The famous year where we forced like 5 players to play injured which prompted Hughes to call out management?
I resigned Lindholm for 7 years at $5 mill AAV in EA Franchise Mode and traded a 2030 2nd round pick and Cole McWard for Logan Stankoven so probably Allvin can do something like that.
So you aren't wrong, but I wanted to post this because the post from earlier today was from a guy reporting that *no* contract talks have taken place with Zadorov since the end of the playoffs. https://www.reddit.com/r/canucks/comments/1d9mk7p/griffith_they_tried_really_hard_before_the/
edit: and now Milstein said IMac's reporting is fake news.. Ouch
I wish I got paid to write stuff like "hearing good things about X and Y player re-signing in Z. Maybe neither re-signs, but it's possible"
Like no shit. You're explaining that they have two options, both of which are in play. How is this news? This whole offseason is going to be exhausting, isn't it?
Ah yes, the summmer, where one insider will say one thing - and then another will come along a few hours later and say the exact opposite!
So, pretty much the same as spring, fall and winter...
Yeah true if we're talking specifically team need I can see that making sense. I personally don't think Lindholm is worth it for our team, he's a luxury we don't need considering our lack of top six LW depth and lack of size on the back end. I really don't think Zadorov deserves over $4.5m though. Maybe we can find cheaper options in free agency and reallocate their cap to more essential areas
I think the 2C vs 3C Lindholm contract value thing is a bit overblown. He could get 2C minutes based on special teams deployment like in the playoffs. And keep in mind that one of him, Petey, or Miller could play wing in various situations and/or in future years.
If he’s 3C but, say, also our 2nd-4th highest minutes forward there may be a fit at $7+m. That’s different than the version where he’s our 7-9th highest minute forward.
$ might still be too high, and I agree we need to find more scoring from somewhere else (and save some money to do so), but I’m not ready to rule it out just yet.
Really don't get giving a 3rd line C big $ long term with limited cap and giant holes to fill on the backend and on the wings. As good as Lindholm was in the playoffs, we are set for many years at 1C and 2C..
Milstein just responded to this tweet saying “Fake News” so it really goes to show how much some media members actually know, including guys like iMac. We’ll know for sure coke July 1
I dont know why people even care about this news. Its all BS from the team or agent. Remember when Miller was 'far apart' then boom his daughter was born and signed 2 days later. We'll only know when the contract is basically done
I would almost rather make a big splash in free agency and try to give Tocchet more of the type of players who fit the profile that he's looking for. Brucie and Rick have both talked about struggling to work with what they have, and with Podkolzin/Raty/Bains/Lekkerimaki/Pettersson all questionable as to whether they make the team next year, I think you still need to realize that this is still a very similar team to what we had back in June of 2023 and perhaps we need some fresh blood that plays a slightly different style in order to get our special teams going among other things like getting that deadly odd-man rush back into their playbook, which we were lacking largely since the All-Star break for some reason despite the rush being our bread and butter for the first half. Zadorov and Lindholm were brought in to align with this year's Canucks, and may not fit well with next year's Canucks if Allvin decides to make that kind of shift.
If we can keep Lindholm, I want him to play in 2nd line as 2C with Petey in his LW. Both Elias healthy would make this an extremely dangerous line as they can both play centre/wing and they are both 200 ft players that can play on both ends of the ice. We never got to witness healthy Petey+Lindholm this past season together.
For 3C, we can either re-sign Blueger or bump Suter down to play that role with Garland.
Having Lindholm would also give us a lot of options and we can move him to 3C like we did in the playoffs depending on the opponent.
I hope we can make it work for both sides.
The Canucks did not sign Pettersson to the biggest contract in franchise history to be a 2nd line winger.
People seriously need to stop with this Petey on the wing nonsense.
Lindholm also only had 23 5on5 points last season (and 35 5on5 points the season before that). He’s not the playdriver people think he is. His play had declined the last 2 seasons. You could probably say now that his one big season playing with Gaudreau and Tkatchuk was the outlier and he is at most a low end 2C/3C.
For all the hate Petey gets, he had 46 5on5 points last season (Miller had 48). And Petey had 56 5on5 points in 22-23 season.
Petey had as many first assists (23) at 5on5 as Lindholm had in points at 5on5 (23). Petey is a playdriver that Lindholm isn’t (anymore).
I get it though. Lindholm was great in the playoffs and Petey wasn’t. But I’m more willing to bet on Petey being elite over the next 5 seasons instead of Lindholm.
I wonder if Lindholm is going to come in much lower than projections.
On the open market he's probably looking at something similar to the Miller contract 8milx7yrs = 56mil total.
If he stays do we maybe get him at 6.5milx8yrs = 52mil total.
[[Dan Milstein] Fake News...](https://x.com/HockeyAgent1/status/1798786830118302085)
This is such a 180 from reports this morning and yesterday. PA/JR keeping a tight ship, nobody knows what's true
Dan Milstein (Zadorov’s agent) just called this report ‘fake news’ So it’s probably fair to say the real truth is in the middle. Zadorov’s agent likely leaked the initial report to Dhali, while the Canucks leaked this report to IMac. I’d say the biggest bombshell when reading between the lines is that it suggests Lindholm is at least interested in returning, even if negotiations are less close than suggested here.
I'd be totally ok signing Lindholm and not Zadorov.
Especially if it ends up being in overpay territory. Lindholm is a Swiss Army knife that adds so much extra versatility to our core. There isn’t a player on the market that brings what he does without us giving up a boatload of assets in a trade. Meanwhile Zadorov is a very good 4-5D that can be replaced with an inferior version for a fair price.
> that can be replaced with an inferior version for a fair price. for *millions* less, if the numbers being tossed around are correct.
Yeah the Canucks can’t afford the big Z, we might if we didn’t have OEL payments. He was a treat to watch, had a huge presence on the ice and in the room, but he’s a luxury we can’t afford. Thanks JB 👍🏼
He's not just a 4-5D though. The intangibles he brings to a playoff environment is not found easily. And if we lose Joshua too, we're a soft team again, without the top end talent of a team like the Oilers to overcome that.
Do we even have the money? I thought we were going to be tight against the cap with our September projections, I don’t know how we’re throwing a 2C into the mix and somehow making it work Either way I got a weird gut feeling about Lindholm. Dude scares me as a potential Eriksson candidate. He’s had a few consecutive down years but still has a good enough reputation and age to muster a pretty decent contract from his reputation of being a 1C. He had a strong playoffs but you can’t expect a guy to play with that much intensity for 82 games a season. If you got him for 5-7 at 2C money I’d be tempted but for anything north of that I think it’s a gamble
Bit of a gamble for sure. But, I think this management group has earned a few gambles given their past performance. Feels weird to say this after the dark ages of Benning, but I trust them to make better choices than I would.
To be fair to lindholm, he contributed well to the run we just had. Louie never contributed anything in his tenure here. Pretty sure in his first game as a Canuck he scored an own goal.. Lindholm hasn’t actually signed with Vancouver so he could disappoint after he gets a big deal but he has played well for a stretch in the playoffs. Which is an important time for players to show up. I’m on the fence. If he signs that would be great, but if he goes I’m sure we will continue to grow as a team.
That own goal legit hurt me and every time I see the eyes to the sky meme of his… lol 😂
we really don't have the money unless we pay up to dump Mik, but we don't really have much to pay up with
But Milstein wouldn't know how Lindholm's contract negotiations are going
No, but the Canucks probably aren’t going to namedrop Lindholm in a (presumed) negotiation leak if they already know he’s going to walk The leak about Zadorov being on track to walk this morning almost certainly was from Milstein to put pressure on the Canucks. It’s par for the course for him. This leak in response is likely from the Canucks to diffuse the situation and show confidence they’ll get there. Unless they’re only mentioning Lindholm as a bluff to try to say ‘Hey, if you don’t lower your ask we’ll just sign Lindholm and let you walk’, which is totally possible. But it feels more likely it’s not a total bluff as that’s too easy to backfire
*defuse the situation And yupp, totally agree with that assessment. Milstein has a long history of negotiating through the media. Really hoping they didn’t just drop Lindholm’s name as a bluff, either. He deepens our roster by so damn much.
Part of me thinks Imac called Allvin to ask about the assistant coach additions and then brought up the UFA’s and Allvin said his usual “we are in talks with them yada yada yada.” Who knows if they have contacted their agents or not. It’s also a way to save face for if Z or Lindholm leave in UFA and then the Canucks could say they tried in good faith to negotiate and they “didn’t run out of time.” LOL
What does anyone gain from leaking the reports???
Leverage. The agent leaking it to the media is then basically saying ‘we’re serious about walking away if you don’t give us a better offer’
Ahhh I see. Thanks :)
I don’t think it’s all that helpful. In fact, leaking shit to the press can really work against you. My thoughts are if anything gets out to the press, contract valuations go down. I don’t care either way if they lose a player that way. It’s unprofessional. They’re playing games with millions of dollars on the line. Which leads me to a final thought. You’ll win every single negotiation if you’re willing to walk away. If he thinks he’s too cool for school, let him walk, and see who picks him up…
Wish we took that line with Pettersson. $11.6M for a playoff ghost.
IMAC is basically a Canucks employee so I think you nailed it.
> so it's probably fair to say the real truth is in the middle. We will be signing 2/3rds of Zadorov's and only 1/3rd of Lindholm. We get Zadorov's during the weekdays and we get Lindy on weekends and holidays ♥
Tocchet in his press conference name dropped Lindholm when describing their systems and play style a couple times and it got me excited.
What number are you happy to get him for? I'm thinking if they can pull off something in the 6s, that would be a slam dunk. Low 7s could be good. 7.5m and over AAV is where I get a little disinterested.
I think he'll easily go for more than we can afford unless he takes a cut. $7.5 I'd call fair, but I just don't see how this team can afford to rebuild so much of the roster in free agency with the cap increasing.
It's all about term. We have the extra year, so a 7 x 8 would equal his rumored ask of 8M on the market, while 7.25 x 8 would exceed the total amount of money in an 8.25 x 7 and be only 1.5M less than a 8.5 x 7
How many years are you comfortable with?
The only way he'd stay is the full 8. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that but I don't think we can find two top 6 wingers in FA if we let Lindholm walk (let's be realistic, I think we balk on Necas because they want one of our top 2 Swede prospects). Most with the chops to play with Petey would be gone in the first few hours or so.
Lindholm is a Tocchett player for sure. Physical, great along the boards, just a pain to play against. You can see he was on Draisaitl like glue. Having him as your 3C or 1st PP unit is such a luxury. I hope they can make it happen
He's the guy i worry most about since he didn't drive play well even on the third line
I mean, his line was the second line and not by a small margin and also was taking on head to head matchups and leading our PK. The way we rolled out our lineup essentially put the Petey line as a supercharged offensive 3rd line and they still came up short. Lindholm and Garland on the second line pulled their own weight.
Ok but it doesn't matter which line he was on.. He didn't drive play on it and if we pay that much, I'd be wanting him to control play more
He's not a puck possessing play driver as much as he is a positional player in both ends. That's not a weakness, it's just a different player type. You can't stack 3 guys who need the puck to make a difference on the same line - and the play driver isn't always the best player either. He can drive to the net which is a huge asset we don't have a lot of, skates well, has a good shot, and is borderline elite defensively.
Not to mention a beast on the face off dot.
It's f&\^%king roller coaster. Fasten your seatbelts.
https://x.com/hockeyagent1/status/1798786830118302085?s=46&t=HZUpmsK_nwuw2-oo5S3_Yw Milstein just quote tweeted this saying it was fake news
Eh, take what agents say with a big grain of salt. There are games within games at this time of year.
could be "fake news" that neither are gonna re-sign \*huffs copium\*
Fake fake news
Thats actually a fairly positive sign and sounds like an agent trying to milk as much as possible.
Oof, well that is damning. Really doesn't make IMac look good, he's usually solid with this stuff
Milstein is a massive geek. Don’t trust him.
He is in solid... with Aquilini who is a known meddler in hockey ops.
Wouldn’t be surprised if this leak came directly from Allvin. We already know they are totally fine with using the media to negotiate. Look at the Pettersson saga
Yes, very true. Myself I usually blame the owners for this sort of thing because I've watched Friedman for so long... GMs come and go but it's like the owners have him on speed dial. During the Benning era there were particularly hairy leaks about players and I always thought it was safe to assume it was in blueberry farm Aquilini's character to dish out the dirt to the media. But ya, for sure it could be Allvin/Rutherford leaks.
Good old silly season
Galaxy brain stuff here. On Donnie and Dhali, Dhali was going off about how Milstein said him and Canucks management didn't even meet at the combine in Buffalo recently. Dhaliwal came across as Milstein not being too happy with things. My galaxy brain theory, Canucks are pushing Mikheyev to accept a trade to wherever they can move him or threatening a buyout. Milstein is frustrated with management over Kuzmenko and now Mikheyev handlings.
Has he tried repping better players?
If I was Z I would be furious if my agent was using me as leverage on behalf of another shittier underperforming player...
I dont think there is a problem with either handling, coach treated both very fair, Kuzy got his money, but clearly struggled with plenty of opportunity this year, Mik chose to hold off knee surgery last year, and up untill the playoffs the coach was always very careful with his comments regarding his struggles post game.... I think next season Mik is going to get his legs back a yr and a half post surgery, and this games going to pick up, with some PK guys leaving his role will be there in a big way. Its very possible big Z wants to play here, but the canucks arent getting to where his camp wants, they porobably came up a bit(hence the story) but Milstein wants it higher. Either way we start getting over 5 million with a long term commitment, I get worried, if we can keep the cap hit down but give him term I am all on board.
Straight from the source that is. I expected better from IMac.
You shouldn't trust what Milstein says either. He has an agenda to maximize Zadorov's leverage and he's not going to confirm anything until both sides put their signatures on paper.
IMac is employed by the team and at the end of the day, is a mouthpiece for them. It's why you never, ever really hear him criticize the Canucks that much.
I understand that he is a party man for sure. But reporting on something when the other side can instantly discredit you, that is outside the norm.
Depends what traction means: it might just mean they have a clear sense of what it would take as both sides have sharpened their pencils. He really hedged saying there’s a world where they keep both, neither, or either one so while they might just be close to ‘the numbers’ they might not be close to the decision on what to do with those numbers.
Basically just saying he’s gone then lmao Man with all the UFA’s we have expiring this off-season I hope it goes a little better than 2020. Nobody sign Holtby
I find it hilarious that an hour ago an "update" gets posted that Zadorov and the Canucks haven't had contract talks since the playoffs, and now there has been "significant traction" vancouver media baby
Exactly, and that's why I posted this tweet. Also I believe IMac a lot more than the other guy, Griffith, who got his news from Area51sportsnet.com.... edit: oh, Griffith retweeted his own story, he writes for Area51sportsnet.com so point still stands I believe IMac's reporting more. edit2: and now Milstein said IMac's reporting is fake news.. Ouch
Snip snap snip snap
You have no idea the physical toll that three vasectomies have on a person!
GOAT episode. The freaking TV scene kills me.
At this time, I really don't want to keep Zadorov unless it's a big discount from the numbers being thrown around. Anything over 5m would be disastrous, and I don't even think he's worth anything over 4m.
Zadorov is not a 3M player. 4ish is definitely fair for both sides
Tell Z that.
I just don't think he's better than Soucy outside of the playoffs.
Are you guys referring to his on ice value or market value? I can’t help but think he’s worth more, easily in the 5-5.5 range. Dudes a generally stable defenceman that’s 6’5 250lbs and can give you 20 minutes a night who can play on the PK. Not to mention he had a strong playoffs on a contract year and had more goals than most of our players. GM’s are willing to pay for bad dmen if they have size, how much are they willing to pay for a good dman with size?
He’s our 5th D. You want to pay our 5th D more than 2 of our top 4 D (assuming Myers is less than 5 this year).
This is why the previous commenter mentioned market value vs on ice value. On ice value, 100%, I agree we shouldn’t pay him that. But his market value is going to be very high.
Our bottom 4 is really a 2A and 2B. Foote mixed and matched all season and we saw them deployed pretty evenly in terms of ice time. I'd argue he's a number 4 D man, or righhhhht on the cusp of it.
Yes? It doesn’t really matter when our 5th D is only playing a minute less than the #3 or #4 It was clear that we had a ‘bottom 4’ as opposed to a strong second pairing and sheltered third pairing. Not to mention Myers is turning 37, dude isn’t going to be a top 4 caliber player for much longer. Whether you see it as a second or third pairing I don’t know, but I see him as a guy that can get you 20 minutes a night with minutes on the PK. That plus 6’5 250 isn’t cheap in the NHL
People see how Z performed these playoffs & also kept every other team/aggressor in check whenever he was on the ice. Intangibles & skill like that don't come for 3m , I would imagine it'll be around 4.5 - 5ish mil - if he hit FA he could easily get 6x6 - but he & his wife loves Van & thinks he could win here so he (hopefully) is willing to take a pay cut to stay, as long as Van gives him the years he wants.
The Jim Benning trap
I know hes a 5-6 pairing and you don't want to overpay, but he's not a bad defensemen and can score a bit, plus his bully factor is immense. He was smashing stars with zero retribution. I feel like without him we start to be the bullied ones again. He gave the confidence to guys like Myers to be more aggressive. He's so important to the team imo
I think we can't look at it in a vacuum. Zaddy with Myers is a decent bottom 4 pairing that can play 18-20 mins a night. That's not nothing. Previously, we had Myers at 6M so a swap of salaries still means the line-up is the same, even if on paper, Zaddy is our 3rd LD behind Soucy and Huggy.
Lindholm shifts this team from a strong team, to a legitimate contender. He was our best player these playoffs, hands down. (Before I get critiqued here, HMs to Garland, Boeser, Silovs, Myers and Zadorov)
I'd argue Miller was a beast as well. It's not a fluke that the guys that came up big for us were all big guys, with the exception of Garland who just refuses to get the message.
Garland is a freakin' badger. Lol.
honeybadgerdon'tcare
This generation’s Jannik Hansen?
Style-wise, yes. But Garland is WAY better than Hansen ever was.
Miller limiting 97 was a huge feat.
I don’t know that I would call Lindholm or even Boeser big. Lindy is below average in both size and weight. Boes is barely average.
Boes was our second heaviest forward last season. Second only to Miller. Our 8 heaviest guys as listed are in order - Zadorov>Myers>Cole>Miller>Boeser=Soucy>Joshua>Lindholm>the rest of the team. Lindy may be close to average around the league, but our team is way undersized on average. Without our pending free agents, the Canucks are listed as the smallest team for 2025 in the league. Easy to figure out when the 3 biggest and 5 of the 8 biggest guys are all part of that free agent group. I know listed weights aren't perfect, but our teams forward group is clearly quite easy to push around if you remove the bigger butts.
So you really meant non-small guys, then 😂 Yeah, I agree that small dudes are at a disadvantage in the playoffs. That said, I don’t think Petey’s struggles were the result of the size. He was ace in the bubble playoffs (not quite the same I know, but still a decent representation nonetheless). Quinn, yeah, he got smushed.
There is no denying that. Lindholm shared hard shutdown duties with Miller, which would have unleashed Petey, but we all know how that went down
Well Petey was injured. If you want to blame him for something blame him for not going on LTIR. Or better yet blame the management and couches for not making him do it.
That’s what I meant by “we all know how that went down”. I didn’t blame him, but I also didn’t absolve him of blame either, so I understand your need to clarify.
Hey now don’t blame the sofas. 😉
what we need out of Lindholm is someone like RNH: a second line 2 way middle who is on both special teams and can occasionally pop off offensively. Unfortunately RNH took a discount and Lindholm likely won't.
It helps that RNH's wife is from Red Deer. Gotta get our finest to lockdown our players to get the discount.
..I mean look Lindholm was great these playoffs but it’s absolutely wild to suggest he was our best player.
It's more than just wild lol.. Only one guy was in competition for best other than Miller and it was Brock His defensive positioning and puck battles were great. Let alone the goals
It’s definitely not wild. He was a matchup defensive center that contributed a lot offensively, and played incredibly well on our PK. He was ruthless on the forecheck, blocked shots, and hit like a dump truck
Yes he did do those things. It’s still absolutely wild to suggest he was the best player. Guys like Miller had wayyy more of a workload and obviously Hughes’ contributions are on an entirely different spectrum than Lindholms. Can’t confuse a guy playing his best with a guy being the best on a team.
Lindholm played 5x more than Miller on the PK, against the best powerplay in NHL history, and the hottest Powerplay in the league coming into the playoffs. How is that not an insane workload? He then was the defensive center taking draws when we had the lead, and would often get put out for extra duty faceoffs after his shifts. RT mentioned he was incredibly accommodating of their matchup demands.
yeah and honestly we could go after another big body to fill in a Garland/Lindholm line. Lindholm can be on our third line and still hit 17-19 minutes a night
If we’re keeping him, it’s not going to be so he can play on the 3rd line. He needs top 6 minutes to produce the numbers we’re going to expect if he signs.
Tocchet likes to roll 3 lines with strong C depth. Depending on Lindholm AAV I don't think it's a problem having him center the third line with a guy like Garland on his wing. It just means you have to go cheap on the third player for each line which we currently have with Suter and Hoglander. I think we'd have to figure out how to move out Mikheyev though and shift that money.
That "third line" is only a "third line" in name, they played more than Peteys line 5v5. Just look at Lindholms deployment in the playoffs, he was getting pp1 and pk1 time and was 3rd in ATOI for forwards, expect similar TOI/deployment if he re-signs.
exactly, that was my point about his ice time.
yeah, but he'd have to be paid appropriately. We can't justify having Miller at 8, Petey at 11.6 playing top 6 minutes, and then Lindholm at like 7 mil to play 3C. Unless they primarily used him in the top 6 either as a winger or moving Petey over, but dropped him down to create more depth down the middle for defensive matchups/defending leads
I think it would be one of those scenario’s where Bo was your “3C” but logged 1st line type minutes.
Miller, Petey, Lindholm and Suter down the middle is insane depth. And the outside chance we get re-sign Blueger to swap with Suter is so awesome. That said, the wingers will be weaker with all that cap space down the middle.
yeah but at the time, Miller was making only 5.25 mil, Bo was making 5.5 and Petey was 7.35. Now, Miller and Pettersson are making that much money between just the two of them. Also they got a lot offensively out of Bo on the PP because of him being a lefty shot facing Miller's passes into the bumper. They'd have to totally rework the PP to utilize Lindholm in the bumper to the same effectiveness.
The calculus is definitely a bit different now. And you’d ideally have that left shot bumper guy, although Lindy made some plays from there and could likely play net-front. Moreso what I am getting at though is, when I think of 3C’s I think of someone playing <15 mins/night.
Play Lindholm and Petey together 🤷♂️ problem solved. During tough matchups, split them up.
Jesus Christ no he was not our best player and that's beyond ridiculous. Both Miller and Brock outplayed him just to pick from one line If you can't see how much better those two were than him then i don't know what to say
Then don’t say anything, because it’s not as ridiculous as you’re making it seem. All 3 had fantastic playoffs. Lindholm was the ace up our sleeve that we kept throwing out there. He played in every situation, and was our 1st option defensively. Lindholm had double the blocked shots as JT and BB, and 5x the SH TOI. He also had double the GWG as both.
Hughes had the lowest shots against in the league when on the ice in the playoffs. And consistently was up against the other teams top guys. I know he wasn’t as flashy offensively as in the season but the guy was absolutely playing elite level number one d man level of play.
The main problem with Lindholm is you're kind of rolling the die on which player you're getting. Is it the guy who played 12 great games on the playoffs this year, or the guy who was dragging his feet the past two years in Calgary?
He doesn't if we still can't score That money needs to go to a star winger or Lindholm needs to find 40g Lindholm again
40g Lindholm was between one of the monster lines in Johnny G and Tkachuk- we don't have that here.. unless you're slotting him between Miller and Petey.
25-35 goals plus Selke level play is perfect, and exactly what we need. Let Miller Boeser and Petey fight to be our 40 goal scorers, they’re all capable of it.
We’ll see - Harman Dayal at the Athletic wrote a pretty compelling article arguing that his cap hit was better spent elsewhere given his drop off last year.
What was Dayal's assumed cap hit in that article out of curiousity?
7.9m, with an average projected value of 4.9 over a 7 year deal. The first year he'd be projected to give a 5.7m value, so even coming right out of the gate, it's not good. Or, at least, it doesn't fit what we need and how we're built.
Oh fuck, ya that would be a disaster. Getting paid JT money essentially to likely play lower in the lineup and not produce as much. Based on that assumption that's 100% a no go zone. If they signed him to that number either: JT is going back to the wing or Petey is going to the wing. My money would be on JT as Petey as always looked out of place as a winger.
I think, on a team without a JT Miller and an Elias Pettersson, it could make sense. But otherwise, he's a luxury that would prevent us from filling holes elsewhere.
yeah, we really don't need to be putting ourselves into a Leafs-type situation with too much cap space focused in too few players
Could you perhaps link the article?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5528291/2024/05/30/canucks-elias-lindholm-extension-projection/
Thank you
Which drop off? He was phenomenal this run with us. Also, we played him at 3C. If he’s 2C, we have a legitimate top 6 with Pettersson on the wing. Petey-Lindholm-Hoglander Suter-Miller-Boeser Suter isn’t the sexiest name, but the advanced stats show that this line dominates both ends of the ice together With a healthy Petey… that lineup is nasty
He had 15 goals and 44 points this season. Just 32 in 49 last season. I know he had an amazing playoffs but I think we’re all forgetting that his production as a whole has been trending downward. That’s not really what you want to see when you’re talking about signing a guy to a 7+ year deal
Right. There’s a reason that you’re stopping your stat watching there, and ignoring his injury history, and the lack of talent that he’s had to play with the last 2 years on a horrendous team. The season before that he finished a Selke finalist with 40 goals. Yes, it was with Tkachuk and Gaudreau. We have players for him to play with that can be just as good; Pettersson, Miller, Boeser, Hughes. He brings an entirely different dynamic to the Canucks, in all 3 zones. He should be the priority.
What injury history? He was injured this season but played 80 and 82 games the previous two seasons. And in the All Canadian division he played all 56 games. You could argue that his one big season playing with Gaudreau and Tkachuk was the “outlier” season. I do agree that he is still good defensively and brings the “intangibles” you would want. Lindholm’s career earnings is 32M. You could argue he has been underpaid the last 4-5 seasons so he will be looking to secure the bag on what could be his last big contract. He is the best “natural” center available as a UFA. He is going to get the bag.
The injury he suffered as Canuck that made everyone think he sucked until he popped the fuck off in the playoffs and was imo the best player on our roster
You can’t just make the injury excuse. Injury history is another red flag that you have to consider when you’re signing an aging player to a long term deal that will take them into their mid-late thirties. And sure he was great 3 seasons ago but that’s almost irrelevant now. I was just pointing out his downward trend in production. He’s produced less and less each year for the past 3 years. We are going to need him to not only bounce back and start producing more but also sustain that for 5+ years.
Here’s the thing; I didn’t “just” make the injury excuse. It was one of many points I can make about him. Terrible team with no help Was disinterested since the Tkachuk and Gaudreau departures Didn’t like the Calgary vision Injury Acclimating to a new team Tremendous playoffs this year Selke finalist with 40 goals the season prior to Calgary’s shitstorm
I remember hearing a lot of the “disinterested” and “didn’t like the team’s vision” stuff when we got OEL too. I like Lindholm a lot and he brought something we desperately needed. I do hope we can keep him but it’s important to discuss the risks involved
OEL was great for us his first year here. Didn’t he play on a fractured foot all year last year? The famous year where we forced like 5 players to play injured which prompted Hughes to call out management?
I resigned Lindholm for 7 years at $5 mill AAV in EA Franchise Mode and traded a 2030 2nd round pick and Cole McWard for Logan Stankoven so probably Allvin can do something like that.
I always pick up Patrick Laine for cheap and he goes on to win multiple rocket Richards riding shotgun with Petey, can we just do that?
Milstein reporting this as fake news..
I honestly would be so happy if we can keep both
So we don’t know either way, wow, breaking news
So you aren't wrong, but I wanted to post this because the post from earlier today was from a guy reporting that *no* contract talks have taken place with Zadorov since the end of the playoffs. https://www.reddit.com/r/canucks/comments/1d9mk7p/griffith_they_tried_really_hard_before_the/ edit: and now Milstein said IMac's reporting is fake news.. Ouch
They just showed Milstein's tweet saying its fake news about Zaddy. IMac probably just towing the company line like usual...
I wish I got paid to write stuff like "hearing good things about X and Y player re-signing in Z. Maybe neither re-signs, but it's possible" Like no shit. You're explaining that they have two options, both of which are in play. How is this news? This whole offseason is going to be exhausting, isn't it?
Maybe yes, maybe no, maybe maybe, but definitely maybe and absolutely maybe not but definitely not definitely not and definitely not definitely yes
Why do people accept Milstein as gospel truth when he’s got the most obvious agenda in the world?
Maybe, but maybe not.
I wish we could keep both and dumpster our cap problems to another team so we can still sign a top six forward.
Ah yes. The battle of MacIntyre carrying the water for the the Canucks sidea and Rick Dhaliwal carrying the water for the agent side.
Please keep Z! I just got his customized jersey in the mail!
"basically they may or may not re-sign at this point" - IMac
Ah yes, the summmer, where one insider will say one thing - and then another will come along a few hours later and say the exact opposite! So, pretty much the same as spring, fall and winter...
I think zadorov is equal value of lindholm and I really hope we can get both but I’d rather keep zad
Yeah they're probably not though. One is a historical top 6 shutdown RHC where as the other is a historical #5 defensemen that had a great playoffs
I think in regards to team need they’re of equal importance as zadorov is our only physical d man besides Myers and is good in his own zone
Yeah true if we're talking specifically team need I can see that making sense. I personally don't think Lindholm is worth it for our team, he's a luxury we don't need considering our lack of top six LW depth and lack of size on the back end. I really don't think Zadorov deserves over $4.5m though. Maybe we can find cheaper options in free agency and reallocate their cap to more essential areas
Maybe they re-sign, maybe not. Wow such bold predictions.
I think the 2C vs 3C Lindholm contract value thing is a bit overblown. He could get 2C minutes based on special teams deployment like in the playoffs. And keep in mind that one of him, Petey, or Miller could play wing in various situations and/or in future years. If he’s 3C but, say, also our 2nd-4th highest minutes forward there may be a fit at $7+m. That’s different than the version where he’s our 7-9th highest minute forward. $ might still be too high, and I agree we need to find more scoring from somewhere else (and save some money to do so), but I’m not ready to rule it out just yet.
Really don't get giving a 3rd line C big $ long term with limited cap and giant holes to fill on the backend and on the wings. As good as Lindholm was in the playoffs, we are set for many years at 1C and 2C..
Milstein just said fake news
Milstein just responded to this tweet saying “Fake News” so it really goes to show how much some media members actually know, including guys like iMac. We’ll know for sure coke July 1
SNIP SNAP SNIP SNAP
Dan Milstein tweeted out that it was fake news
I certainly hope they do.
I would simultaneously be really happy to keep them both and really nervous about the contracts
I dont know why people even care about this news. Its all BS from the team or agent. Remember when Miller was 'far apart' then boom his daughter was born and signed 2 days later. We'll only know when the contract is basically done
Big Z, priority one.
I would like to re-sign Lindholm. If it goes to July 1st, someone else will offer him stupid money.
Hronek goes... install a Jiricek or Brannstrom in his place... Big Z stays Lindholm stays and Mikheyevs salary and Joshua are deep-sixed outt here
iMac doing the peoples work!
Milstein is a creep
It's all posturing at this point. But it would be a dream to keep both.
I would almost rather make a big splash in free agency and try to give Tocchet more of the type of players who fit the profile that he's looking for. Brucie and Rick have both talked about struggling to work with what they have, and with Podkolzin/Raty/Bains/Lekkerimaki/Pettersson all questionable as to whether they make the team next year, I think you still need to realize that this is still a very similar team to what we had back in June of 2023 and perhaps we need some fresh blood that plays a slightly different style in order to get our special teams going among other things like getting that deadly odd-man rush back into their playbook, which we were lacking largely since the All-Star break for some reason despite the rush being our bread and butter for the first half. Zadorov and Lindholm were brought in to align with this year's Canucks, and may not fit well with next year's Canucks if Allvin decides to make that kind of shift.
If we can keep Lindholm, I want him to play in 2nd line as 2C with Petey in his LW. Both Elias healthy would make this an extremely dangerous line as they can both play centre/wing and they are both 200 ft players that can play on both ends of the ice. We never got to witness healthy Petey+Lindholm this past season together. For 3C, we can either re-sign Blueger or bump Suter down to play that role with Garland. Having Lindholm would also give us a lot of options and we can move him to 3C like we did in the playoffs depending on the opponent. I hope we can make it work for both sides.
The Canucks did not sign Pettersson to the biggest contract in franchise history to be a 2nd line winger. People seriously need to stop with this Petey on the wing nonsense.
Lindholm also only had 23 5on5 points last season (and 35 5on5 points the season before that). He’s not the playdriver people think he is. His play had declined the last 2 seasons. You could probably say now that his one big season playing with Gaudreau and Tkatchuk was the outlier and he is at most a low end 2C/3C. For all the hate Petey gets, he had 46 5on5 points last season (Miller had 48). And Petey had 56 5on5 points in 22-23 season. Petey had as many first assists (23) at 5on5 as Lindholm had in points at 5on5 (23). Petey is a playdriver that Lindholm isn’t (anymore). I get it though. Lindholm was great in the playoffs and Petey wasn’t. But I’m more willing to bet on Petey being elite over the next 5 seasons instead of Lindholm.
That's a really good point. I think we're better off allocating that cap hit to a play driving top six LW
Even if Lindholm leaves I’ll never forget that nasty OT goal vs Nashville and where I was when he scored that goal. 🫡
I wonder if Lindholm is going to come in much lower than projections. On the open market he's probably looking at something similar to the Miller contract 8milx7yrs = 56mil total. If he stays do we maybe get him at 6.5milx8yrs = 52mil total.
lmao none of these guys have talked to anyone, theyre just making clickbait articles because they know the fans are desperate for news
Please stay Lindholm!!
It's definitely time to just let things happen
Hot damn, what news. They could re-sign, but also, they might NOT re-sign. I'm on the edge of my seat!!! So many possibilities!
Maybe yes maybe no, but let's make up news. What a ridiculous title.