Potential Trade Target Off The Table For The Avalanche

All season long, the Colorado Avalanche have been listed as one of the many teams interested in acquiring the services of Elias Lindholm prior to the NHL Trade Deadline.

However, they will not be trading for the 29 year old center.

On Wednesday, the Vancouver Canucks, currently in first place in the Western Conference, acquired Lindholm from the Calgary Flames. In exchange, the Canucks gave up Andrei Kuzmenko, who has taken a big step back after scoring 39 goals last season, a 2024 first round pick, prospects Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo, as well as a conditional 2024 fourth round pick.

Lindholm was widely considered to be the best player available prior to the NHL Trade Deadline, but he’s taken a big step back this season. During the 2021-22 campaign, he was a point-per-game player. Last season, he dropped down to 64 points. This year, he’s on pace for just 53 points, despite averaging over 20 minutes a night. In my viewings of Lindholm this season, he hasn’t looked as engaged, and doesn’t look anything like the player who put up 82 points just two years ago. It’ll be interesting to see if a change of scenery will be good for him, as there has been a lot of very public drama around his contract negotiations with the Flames. That can always impact a player’s on-ice performance.

There’s no way of knowing just how interested the Avalanche were in Lindholm, but he’s off the table now. As we discussed in our first official trade board the other day, there are other centers available, but each one comes with their own set of question marks. In recent days, there have been talks of both Sean Monahan and Adam Henrique fetching first round picks in return. If true, the asking prices right now are astronomically high, so we’ll have to see how things play out.

Stay tuned to CHN for all your Avalanche updates. We’ll be in live in New York and New Jersey next week when Colorado returns from the All-Star break.