Friedman: Vancouver Canucks willing to offer 7×7 for an Elias Lindholm return

Continuing on the Friday edition of 32 Thoughts – The Podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman pivoted his chatter from Nikita Zadorov to Elias Lindholm. Friedman shined some light on what he’s hearing and gave his thoughts on what the future holds for the Canucks and Lindholm.

“A couple of weeks ago on the pod, during the playoffs, we talked about the recruiting efforts from the Canucks players were pretty intense. ‘You gotta stay, you gotta stay, you gotta find a way to stay.’ I still think that’s going on,” Friedman speculated. “This is my guess: I think the Canucks are willing to go in the 7×7 range; I’m just not sure it’s going to get it done. I think the Canucks want this player.”

Vancouver acquired Lindholm from the Calgary Flames on February 1st in a trade in which they packaged their 2024 first and fourth-round picks, Andrei Kuzmenko, along with defensive prospects Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo.

“I see those three guys as flexible players; you can move them around. You can play [Elias] Pettersson, [JT] Miller, Lindholm all down the middle. But you can move them to the wing; you can move them around,” Friedman said. “Look how good Vancouver looked with those three guys in their lineup. If I have to stretch my dollars a little bit to keep those three guys in my lineup, I’ll do it.”

Lindholm spent most of his time in Vancouver playing as the third-line centre despite being brought in to play alongside Elias Pettersson. He finished the regular season with six goals and six assists for 12 points but a -6 plus/minus rating in 26 games.

Lindholm found his game in the postseason after taking some time to heal from injury. He scored five goals and five assists for 10 points, with a +4 plus/minus rating in 13 games and playing heavy minutes against the Nashville Predators top line in the opening round.

“I don’t want to speak for Lindholm, but I heard as tough as it started in Vancouver, I heard he really liked it there,” Friedman added.

Head coach Rick Tocchet has expressed his admiration for Lindholm’s game, so it’s no surprise the Canucks have an interest in bringing back the player. With Lindholm set to become an UFA on July 1st, Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin will have until then to work something out with the Swedish forward.