Confirmed Trade: [VAN/CGY] Elias Lindholm for Andrei Kuzmenko, Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo, 2024 1st, cond. 2024 4th

[FerklundCGY]

Damn.

Kuzmenko hatty now.

Just drilling this trade into the ground at this point now because he could only stomp so far.

 

[Cypher]

Can't believe the Flames got the better player (13-9-22), who's also signed longer, for Lindholm (5-4-9), plus a 1st and all those other assets.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

lol at the people who were saying Kuz is worth a mid round pick. The guy looks like a first line player.

“He won’t show up in big games”… he’s literally never played a playoff game

 

[Boomstick]

It's nice to be on the right side of a trade for once.
But Weegar has been fantastic too, so there's always that.

 

[super6646]

Lol the shit slinging. You love to see it.

As a Flames fan, its nice to see a reclamation project work out. I still have hope Lindy can get it together too, but I think the man has cost himself plenty of Ralph bucks.

 

[Johnnybegood13]

Lol the shit slinging. You love to see it.

As a Flames fan, its nice to see a reclamation project work out. I still have hope Lindy can get it together too, but I think the man has cost himself plenty of Ralph bucks.

I'm going back a little but I remember a Flame that had lots of talent and got chased out of town in one of the worst trades in Flames history because a coach didn't trust or like him, after this trade the coach nor the GM ever saw the NHL again, it's ironic that player now coaches the Flames PP which has been stellar since Kuzmenko got here and especially since he's gotten healthy, I hope Lindholm helps Vancouver in the playoffs or I suspect this trade might bring some pink slips.

 

[Haatley]

Offensively no, defensively he has looked great.

No. No he hasn't.

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

With all your hockey education can you explain why Lindholm has been so terrible?

Would an injured wrist be a good explanation or is this not a serious question?

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

Your "good coach" has won nothing yet, though. I think for a coach evaluation you need a little bit more than year and half...

He won a cup as an assistant and by all accounts was a prominent contributor to the culture of that team and getting the most out of Kessel who had his best playoffs by far. But maybe that doesn't count because it doesn't glaze Kuzmenko (who for the record, I like and wish well).

 

[Peasy]

The juice typically aint worth the squeeze with these types of trades.

The guentzel trade on the other hand...

 

[Body Checker]

Lots of runway left on this trade yet; see what the Nucks do in the playoffs first

 

[Mad Dog Tannen]

Damn.

Kuzmenko hatty now.

Just drilling this trade into the ground at this point now because he could only stomp so far.

9 pts in his past 5 games.

Has scored more pts (22) in 26 games with the flames than he did in Vancouver (21 in 43 games).

Cowtown seems like a good fit for Kuz.

Kuz was the reason the Canucks “won” the lindholm sweepstakes. Savy move by flames mgmt getting Kuz while making Vancouver feel like they were doing them a “favour”. All while bucks GM was feeling like he was the best in the league after the 2 trades with cgy. lol. Good times.

Lots of runway left on this trade yet; see what the Nucks do in the playoffs first

Well. I wouldn’t say it’s lots of runway. The most important part is about to start though. First 3 months have been a disaster.

 

[Mad Dog Tannen]

Would an injured wrist be a good explanation or is this not a serious question?

100% it was a serious question and 100% that’s a fair answer.

It’s kind of surreal watching as an outsider as Kuz bounces back and is playing really well - but is called garbage. While Lindholm clearly is underperforming, demoted to 3rd line as a shut down,folks claiming he was the most sought after TDL centre because of his “defense” when really it was about his exceptional offense and defense that defines a two way player. And he has been poor in both facets (o and d) and his faceoffs have been meh.

Am hopeful he bounces back hard though. Would love to see Vancouver come out of the pacific and make it to the third round.

 

[Mad Dog Tannen]

I don't understand what this has to do with either what I said or the comment to which I was replying.

Well you traded a player that didn’t fit in your system along with a first and 2 prospects for a player to make the team better and help dominate in the playoffs.

If fitting into tocchets system is super critical for success seems pretty relevant question based on your post. The question is clearly relevant to your post - it literally builds off of your topic And content. That’s how discussions work. Unless you wanted me to make the same exact post you were responding to. lol.

Nucks fans - so defensive.

 

[ScottishCanuck]

This forum loves to ignore context. There are few reasons why the trade was made, and it wasn't because of a lack of talent on Kuzmenko's end. He's a likeable, skilled guy and I'm happy for him. At the moment the Flames are winning the trade quite clearly, in large part because he's playing a role with them that he couldn't with us.

1. Kuzmenko was shooting at an unsustainably high % last season. He came down to earth hard this year, as many people expected. He's shooting in Calgary at over double what he was in Vancouver this season (25.5%). That won't continue.
2. He doesn't fit in Tocchet's system. He wanted him to forecheck and be defensively responsible, and Kuz was incapable of doing that. So he wasn't really contributing to the success of the team. He was healthy scratched multiple times and benched when he wasn't playing the way Tocchet needed him to.
3. He was taking up cap space that we couldn't afford him to. We had Petey to re-sign, among many others and an empty jersey occupying $5m of the cap wasn't an option.
4. Lindholm has been injured, essentially since he arrived in Vancouver. He was brought in to be a top-6 player and play a defensively responsible, two way game. Something that Kuzmenko wasn't capable of.

The true test of value will be the playoffs. Don't have a problem in saying that it's worked far better for Calgary than it has us, but context is everything.

 

[Kshahdoo]

He won a cup as an assistant and by all accounts was a prominent contributor to the culture of that team and getting the most out of Kessel who had his best playoffs by far. But maybe that doesn't count because it doesn't glaze Kuzmenko (who for the record, I like and wish well).

Yeah, but what is his history as a head coach? Because being an assistant coach means nothing when it comes to winning anything as a head coach.

 

[blankall]

People are getting a little carried away here. Kuz has been great, but he's also pretty one dimensional. 80% o-zone starts in Calgary.

Lindholm has been a beast on the faceoff circle and remains one of the best shut down centers in the league.

Over payment, but people stating that Kuz is the better player are out to lunch.

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

People are getting a little carried away here. Kuz has been great, but he's also pretty one dimensional. 80% o-zone starts in Calgary.

Lindholm has been a beast on the faceoff circle and remains one of the best shut down centers in the league.

Over payment, but people stating that Lindholm is the better player are out to lunch.

Assuming you meant Kuzmenko in the last sentence.

Either way, Canucks fans have to be worried with what was given up and Lindholm simply not moving the needle that much.

All the while Vegas, Dallas, etc in the west all made moves that will make them very good in the playoffs.

Then in the east, Carolina looks like they hit a home run acquiring Guentzel (who the Canucks should have put their stock in) is tearing it up.

You can give the trade some time to see how it truly shakes out, but among all of the contenders going for the Cup, it certainly seems like they got the worst outcome.

 

[Mad Dog Tannen]

People are getting a little carried away here. Kuz has been great,

Over payment, but people stating that Lindholm is the better player are out to lunch.

Agreed 100%!

 

[GirardSpinorama]

The only thing that really matters if if Lindholm helps in the playoffs. No one judges based on regular season. That being said, Flames got a lot of value. Kuzmenko is no cap dump!

 

[Nucklehead Supreme]

No. No he hasn't.

Yes, he has, maybe watch him play for us?

 

[Nucklehead Supreme]

Yeah, but what is his history as a head coach? Because being an assistant coach means nothing when it comes to winning anything as a head coach.

Wow you're grasping at straws at this point, pathetic.

 

[Peter Griffin]

Agreed 100%!

If anyone needs anything more to show that this guy is just trying to troll and bait Canucks’ fans, this is it.

 

[Nucklehead Supreme]

Assuming you meant Kuzmenko in the last sentence.

Either way, Canucks fans have to be worried with what was given up and Lindholm simply not moving the needle that much.

All the while Vegas, Dallas, etc in the west all made moves that will make them very good in the playoffs.

Then in the east, Carolina looks like they hit a home run acquiring Guentzel (who the Canucks should have put their stock in) is tearing it up.

You can give the trade some time to see how it truly shakes out, but among all of the contenders going for the Cup, it certainly seems like they got the worst outcome.

Love how people keep bringing this up all while ignoring the fact that the Pens wanted Hoglander and we would never have given him up.

 

[Nucklehead Supreme]

The only thing that really matters if if Lindholm helps in the playoffs. No one judges based on regular season. That being said, Flames got a lot of value. Kuzmenko is no cap dump!

I'm glad he's play so well offensively but he was still a capdump for us, this doesn't change that.