Framework to re-sign the Flames' top-line center is in Bo Horvat's pocket
Lou Lamoriello may have done the bulk of the work for the Calgary Flames regarding a new contract for Elias Lindholm.
Lindholm, Calgary’s top-line centre, is arguably the club’s most important player among their crop of pending 2024 unrestricted free agents.
And Lamoriello, the president of hockey operations and general manager of the New York Islanders, set a framework for the Flames GM Craig Conroy and Lindholm’s camp to begin their work by re-signing Bo Horvat immediately after acquiring him from the Vancouver Canucks this past season.
Horvat inked an eight-year, $68-million pact before even suiting up for the Islanders, an $8.5-million cap hit.
Whether that ballpark works for the Flames and Lindholm remains to be seen. Certainly the 28-year-old centre who collected 22 goals and 64 points last season, a down year for him and the Flames, has the right to see what he can garner on the open market and the direction Calgary is headed.
When the season concluded, he was non-committal when asked whether he was interested yet in discussing an extension, saying “We’ll see what happens. I’ve got one more year and that’s all I can say.”
It’s worth noting that was while the sting of missing the playoffs was fresh and before head coach Darryl Sutter was fired.
Lindholm is heading into the final year of the six-year, $29.1-million deal he signed after being acquired by the Flames from the Carolina Hurricanes in 2018. (Curiously, there were plenty of questions raised at the time, but it proved to be an astute move.)
Truth is, Lindholm has the hammer right now. Among those players due to become UFAs after the 2023-24 campaign — a list that also includes forwards Mikael Backlund and Tyler Toffoli and defensemen Noah Hanifin (probably the second most important player among this list), Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov, Oliver Kylington and Dennis Gilbert — Lindholm definitely falls into the category of hardest to replace.
He may not be the top-tier, first-line center every team covets, but Lindholm is a very strong two-way center, and capable of having an impact on the power play and penalty killing, on top of during five-on-five play, and coming into his prime years.
His value to the Flames increases even more when you consider there is nobody on the roster or even in the pipeline capable of taking that role. Nazem Kadri is a very good second-line center (speaking of players who had a down season) and Mikael Backlund may be coming off a career high in points, but is also a level below Lindholm, not to mention six years older.
As for any up-and-comers, time will tell whether any of them are even ready for a fourth-line role next season, but that’s a tale for another day.
What transpires with Lindholm will certainly point the direction of the Calgary Flames and their future.
