Canucks management scrambling after leaked trade discussions

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Liam McCormick
March 14, 2024 (1:25 PM)

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In the week before the trade deadline, a bombshell report came out from NHL insiders that the Vancouver Canucks were looking to flip Elias Lindholm in a three team trade, just weeks after they acquired him from Calgary. Now in the latest edition of the 32 Thoughts Blog, Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Canucks management is doing damage control to salvage the relationship with Lindholm.

The Canucks did have to do some damage control with Elias Lindholm. They weren't happy it got out they even remotely considered moving him. (It was hard to tell who was angrier: Vancouver about that, or Los Angeles about speculation of who might have been involved in an Ullmark move.) In the end, I don't believe the three-way between Boston, Pittsburgh and Vancouver came anywhere close to occurring.

The Canucks actually lived up to their potential this year and seem finally positioned to make the playoffs easily. Acquiring Lindholm was their big trade of this year to reward the team and go all-in, but so far he hasn't turned out exactly how Canucks fans hoped. Lindholm's still been a quality player, but has been struggling a bit with 4 goals and 7 points in 18 games with the team.

It would've been a gutsy move for the Canucks to attempt flipping Lindholm just weeks after getting him, but it was a very remote possibility in a three team trade with Los Angeles and Boston, according to Friedman. The trade didn't get much traction before being abandoned, but connecting the dots with other rumours, it could've involved Pierre-Luc Dubois and Linus Ullmark. Even if it never happened, that's got to be one of the biggest NHL blockbusters ever discussed.

It seems more unlikely now that the Canucks will be able to re-sign the pending free agent Lindholm. The team is already tight against the cap and would be hard pressed to fit him in, but considering his on-ice struggles and now the off-ice relationship questionable, it seems like Lindholm is heading for free agency this summer.