Waiting to sign Lindholm until UFA next year means your bidding against a bunch of other teams, and your also wasting another Marchand year and he's not getting younger.
Terrible idea
Unfortunately, I think it's the only option they have. As things stand right now, the amount of teams looking for a top center is somewhat slim. The only two playoff teams would probably be the Bruins and Wild.
Mid tier teams you definitely have the Predators, Blue Jackets, Flyers looking for a 1C
Jets and Flames should probably go into a rebuild
Then again you could always have a rebuilding team like the Coyotes, Ducks or even the Blackhawks go after him. Blackhawks would actually be a great spot to compliment Bedard and they could throw a ton of money at him.
You could always have a team come out of nowhere somewhat like the Islanders did for Horvat and move things around to make it happen.
It's not a great plan but it might be the only option they have and they could fall back on Scheifele if he hits the market as well.