Hurricanes inquired on Flames' Lindholm at trade deadline: report
The Carolina Hurricanes explored a reunion with Calgary Flames centre Elias Lindholm.
The Hurricanes reached out on the pivot, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
“Thereās almost zero chance the Flames would have considered it now ā too soon and still coming to grips with this season. But theyāve got six interesting players with one year remaining on their current contracts, so the calendar dictates this will be a direction-defining summer. All of a sudden, they are four points back of Winnipeg,” Friedman, with a stick tap to The Athletic’s Michael Russo, wrote in his 32 Thoughts column Thursday.
The Flames are in the thick of a playoff chase, sitting four points
Lindholm has one season remaining on a six-year, $29.1 million contract signed with the Flames in the summer of 2018. He’s set to be an unrestricted free agent after.
As Friedman mentions, he’s one of six players that could hit unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2024. The list includes fellow Swedish centre Mikael Backlund, forward Tyler Toffoli, and defencemen Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov.
Lindholm is second in scoring for Calgary with 52 points (18 goals, 34 assists) in 63 games — two back of linemate Toffoli’s 54 points.
The 28-year-old had an NHL career-high in goals (42) and points (82) while anchoring the NHL’s top line last season alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk.
He joined the Flames with Hanifin in exchange for blueliner Dougie Hamilton, forward Micheal Ferland, and then-prospect and now-Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox in a draft-day draw-jobbing swap with Carolina back in 2018.
The Hurricanes originally selected Lindholm as the No. 5 pick of the 2013 NHL Draft.
The Boden, Sweden product had 188 points (64 goals, 124 assists) in 374 games with Carolina before the trade and 313 points (135 goals, 178 assists) in 352 games with Calgary.
He has 501 points (199 goals, 302 assists) in 726 career NHL games with both organizations.
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