"Give it some time": Canucks coach Tocchet patient with Lindholm despite slow start
Things haven’t gone perfectly to plan for Elias Lindholm since joining the Vancouver Canucks.
It’s been nearly a month since the Canucks pushed their chips in to acquire Lindholm in a trade with the Calgary Flames. GM Patrik Allvin paid a big price for Lindholm, the top available centre ahead of the trade deadline, sending a package to Calgary that included Andrei Kuzmenko, promising prospect Hunter Brzustewicz, and a first-round pick.
It was a move meant to put the Canucks over the top, but so far, the return has been rather underwhelming.
The Canucks are just 5-5-2 in 12 games since the trade, which coincided with the All-Star break. While Lindholm isn’t necessarily the reason for the team’s struggles, he hasn’t exactly flourished on the West Coast.
The natural fit for Lindholm seemed to be with countryman Elias Pettersson, giving the Canucks’ most talented forward a reliable linemate — regardless of which Elias plays centre.
That didn’t work out.
After a brief try on J.T. Miller’s line, Lindholm is now centring the Canucks’ third line.
Lindholm was also supposed to be a missing piece of the puzzle on an already great power play. Instead, his arrival coincided with the worst power play slump of the season, as the Canucks rank 28th in power play percentage (13.5%) this month.
Lindholm scored twice in his Canucks debut back on February 6. He has just four points (2-2-4) and is a team-worst -5 in the 11 games since.
Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet remained positive about Lindholm’s play when asked by Daily Hive after Thursday’s morning skate. Though he did stress that Lindholm needs more time to acclimatize himself to a new organization.
“There’s been some really good games, there’s some games where he’s trying to feel his way out,” Tocchet said. “I like where he’s at, the centreman position we have right now. We’ve gotta give it some time. It’s only been a month. 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.”
There is plenty of time for Lindholm to turn things around, and with the Canucks still in first place in the overall standings, there’s no need to panic from a team perspective. They need Lindholm at his best come playoff time, and that doesn’t begin for another seven and a half weeks.
But there were warnings out of Calgary before the Canucks got Lindholm, questioning the 29-year-old’s level of play.
The positive with Lindholm is that he has traditionally provided defensive value, which should be less volatile than offensive production. You can play him in tough matchups, and he is one of their best penalty killers.
But Lindholm struggled at five-on-five against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. His line was caved in, with woeful numbers in both Corsi (17.65 CF%) and expected goals (21.16 xGF%).
The Canucks need to find Linholm a five-on-five home, whether it be at centre or on the wing, in the top-six or bottom-six.
It certainly sounds like Tocchet is content keeping him as his third-line centre, behind Pettersson and Miller. It’s a move that also pushes Teddy Blueger to the fourth line.
“I do like the four centremen we have. I think that’s an advantage we have. Hopefully it works out,” Tocchet said on Tuesday. “You have four centremen like that going into tough environments; I think that’s a recipe [rather] than loading up. But every once in a while, you might have to load up.”
Tocchet raises a good point — provided that Pettersson can produce enough offence with the likes of Nils Höglander and Ilya Mikheyev. If they can, the Canucks will be without a weak link up the middle in just about any situation.
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