Vancouver Started the Process with Calgary to Acquire Elias Lindholm
TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joined Jay Onrait on SportsCenter to discuss the Elias Lindholm trade from Calgary to Vancouver and was asked how things between the two teams got started.
** NHLRumors.com Transcription
NHL Trade: Media Thoughts On The Elias Lindholm Trade To The Vancouver Canucks
Jay Onrait: “A trade this massive we had to start the show with our good friend, Pierre LeBrun, our hockey Insider. Here. First of all, great to see you. Thanks for being on the show. We appreciate it.”
Pierre LeBrun: “Back to Back nights, I love it. Let’s do it.”
Onrait: “This is phenomenal because we talk about this all the time. Jim Rutherford, he wants a guy, he goes and gets him. Trade deadline, schmade deadline. He’s getting them five weeks early. And how did it all come together, Pierre?”
LeBrun: “Yeah, he does like to go get his guy early. Obviously, him and the GM Patrik Allvin, doing some big-time work here on this day, the last day of January, because Jim Rutherford has had a lot of January trades in his history. So, technically, it’s still a January trade.
What happened is basically four days ago, Vancouver reached out to Calgary and said we’re ready to get serious on Lindholm if you guys are and Craig Conroy then turned around and went to some of the other teams that had expressed interest in Lindholm and said, ‘Are you guys ready to get in this as well?’
And at the end of the day, I don’t think anyone could match. You know, the kind of package that Vancouver put together, Jay and listen, I’m not saying that the Canucks overpaid, although ask me again in five years with some of the future assets here, but I certainly think they had to pay the market price when you consider a year ago the kind of prices that were paid in the Bo Horvat deal and also Ryan O’Reilly. It’s pretty similar.
NHL Trade: Vancouver Canucks Acquire Elias Lindholm from Calgary
And what’s also similar, those were early trades, right? And so, the price was paid here. I think Calgary got a really decent haul. Good job by Craig Conroy. But for the Canucks, I think well worth it. You have a chance to go deep this year. It’s an exciting year, and Lindholm so many check marks for the Vancouver Canucks, right-handed center, can play center can play wing, second-line center and top six winger, penalty penalty kill, power-play.
There is no other player that was currently on the market that fit the criteria better than Elias Lindholm in terms of what the Vancouver Canucks needed, but at the end of the day, a deal that I think both teams feel really good about on this night.”
