Canucks could flip Lindholm to Boston and trade for Guentzel: report

Less than five weeks after acquiring Elias Lindholm, the Vancouver Canucks are reportedly talking about trading him.

TSN’s Chris Johnston reports that the Canucks have had trade talks with the Boston Bruins about Lindholm in a move that could open up room for Vancouver to get Jake Guentzel.

With the #canucks believed to be among those pursuing Jake Guentzel, word is they've had discussions about potentially flipping Elias Lindholm to the #bruins as part of the machinations to make it happen.

Nothing concrete in place at this time. Still lots of moving parts.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 5, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins are expected to move Guentzel before Friday’s trade deadline, and the Canucks are reportedly interested. The question was if the Canucks could afford to give up the assets required to get him, particularly after what they gave up to get Lindholm.

The Pens are reportedly interested in acquiring prospects for Guentzel, so perhaps the Canucks could acquire some from Boston. It might be hard to get as much for Lindholm as they gave up to the Calgary Flames on January 31, though.

Lindholm scored twice in his Canucks debut but has just four points in 13 games since.

Head coach Rick Tocchet was saying all the right things when pressed by Daily Hive about Lindholm’s play last week. He preached patience but did admit that Lindholm was still “trying to feel his way out.”

“We’ve gotta give it some time. It’s only been a month,” Tocchet said at the time. “I think there’s some stuff that he’s really helped us with, and I think there’s stuff that he wants to get better with.

“That’s why we made the trade earlier, so we give him some time to work.”

Tocchet is currently playing Lindholm on the team’s third-line and second-unit power play. The veteran centre is being used heavily on the penalty kill, though.

Guentzel is well known to Jim Rutherford, Patrik Allvin, and Rick Tocchet. The 29-year-old winger has played the entirety of his eight-year career with the Penguins, scoring 466 points in 503 career regular-season games. Guentzel is a point-per-game player in the playoffs during his career (58 points in 58 games) and was a member of the 2017 Stanley Cup champions.

The 5-foot-11 left winger is currently enjoying another productive season in Pittsburgh, with 52 points (22-30-52) in  50 games.

The biggest hole in the Canucks’ lineup is currently on Elias Pettersson’s wing, something Lindholm was supposed to solve. But Pettersson lined up with Nils Höglander and Pius Suter last game. The Canucks could also use an upgrade on Ilya Mikheyev, who has struggled all season despite playing primarily in the top six.

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