bam09
Registered User
- Jan 19, 2008
- 2,142
- 45
Here's how it works with Flames fans: a player is valued based upon his best recent season when they're a Flame, and they're the worst recent season ever once they're gone. You're exactly right in your assessment, but it's going to fall on mostly deaf ears. The narrative shifts in alignment with this.Again. It’s the first line. If 23 year old Ruzicka and 24 year old Dube, neither of whom had ever played more than 14 minutes a game, didn’t hit career highs while playing on the first line, then what are we even doing here?
Yes, Toffoli hit career highs — by heavily outscoring Lindholm.
He’s not a top 15 C. See the list upthread.
Top 20 is questionable. McDavid, Draisaitl, MacKinnon, Matthews, Crosby, Pettersson, Hughes, Barkov, Point, Thompson, Eichel, Stutzle, Zibanejad, Aho, Hintz, Malkin, Bergeron, Hischier makes 18. I’m guessing most fans would build a team around Larkin or Miller or Kopitar before they’d build one around Lindholm. Tavares is still in that conversation as well. That’s 22 names and Lindholm isn’t clear-cut better than any of them.
If we just simplify and say he’s 20-25, that’s a guy who is a 2C on a quality team with only rare exceptions. Calgary was the exception for a while because of their strength on the wings, but we saw how far that got them in the playoffs, and we saw what happened to Lindholm when the winger quality slipped. Washington might be another playoff-potential team where he could step in at 1C. Beyond that? He’s either a 2C or he’s slumming as the 1C on a doormat. Based on his desire to move on from Calgary it would appear he’s chasing the former option.
Right now, he's a 40 goal Selke runner up centre. If he's traded, he was never worth the money and a 65 point supporting cast player.