NHL Network: Elliotte Friedman on the NHL Tonight show on Elias Lindholm’s contract situation with the Calgary Flames.
Tony Luftman: “Where do things stand with a possible contract extension for Elias Lindholm in Calgary.
Friedman: “You know what, really Tony, I always thought, you look at that board up there, I really thought that the guy who was second to left, Bo Horvat was going to be the comparable at 8 x $8.5 (million).
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And I think it’s possible Lindholm now actually comes in higher than that, potentially. And I think, one of the things that here is the Flames did some business at the draft with (Tyler) Toffoli and they already know that (Noah) Hanifin prefers to go elsewhere. But I think with Lindholm they were prepared to give him the summer to kind of think and sort things out emotionally and see how he felt.
Lindholm just told a Swedish paper that he’s happy to stay there. I think that they’ll, he comes back. I think that the talks will kind of resume. But I think the number is going to have to be above Horvat. Like I’ve heard it might be closer to $8.75 or $9 (million). So I think Calgary and Lindholm will have these conversations. I think they want to keep him.
And I think the other here, I was having a conversation with someone about this the other day, Jonathan Huberdeau’s eight-year deal kicks in this year and Jonathan Huberdeau just had a really tough season. If you don’t extend Lindholm you’re gonna make it a lot harder for Huberdeau’s contract to look good.
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So I understand why the Flames are committed to this and I can understand why they’re going to push hard to keep Lindholm cause I think it’s going to be harder to make Huberdeau a successful player in the short-term if you don’t have a player like Lindholm there with him.”
