Dive into the performances of the parties dealt as the division rivals to meet for the first time since the Lindholm swap
Nikita Zadorov is heating up as he readies to face his former team. As the Vancouver Canucks prepare to play host to the Calgary Flames Saturday night, Zadorov is coming off a two-goal outing in a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
The Flames and Canucks have made two trades this season. The first sent Zadorov west for a pair of draft picks (a 2026 third-round selection and 2024 fifth rounder). The second was exponentially bigger in terms of pieces. Vancouver received Elias Lindholm and the Flames were sent forward Andrei Kuzmenko, a pair of prospect defencemen and two draft picks: a first-round pick and a conditional fourth-round selection that becomes a third rounder if the Canucks reach the conference finals.
So, how have all the parties fared since the swaps? Let’s check it out.
Zadorov has netted five goals and 12 points in 43 games, while averaging 17:02 of ice time (curiously, 82 seconds fewer than while he was in Calgary). A pending unrestricted free agent, Zadorov is hoping for a raise from his deal worth $3.75 million, but would be hard to fit in Vancouver as a third-pairing blueliner.
As for Lindholm, things have not gone as well yet. Despite playing on a more talented squad, Lindholm’s offensive struggles not only followed him but have been exacerbated. He has netted four goals and eight points in 21 games, but two goals came in his Vancouver debut, with another two-goal outing just over a week later. Lindholm heads into this meeting on a 15-game goal drought. His name even came up in the rumour mill just before the trade deadline with talk Lindholm was going to be flipped so the Canucks could add scoring help. Also a pending UFA, Lindholm reportedly turned down a lengthy and lucrative extension with Calgary and his production woes likely will impact what he finds on the market this summer.
Looking at the Flames’ property, Kuzmenko has netted five goals and eight points in 15 games since the trade. He has not scored in five games, in which he has two assists. Kuzmenko, who has one more season on his contract, worth $5.5 million, after which he is a pending UFA. Since the trade, Kuzmenko has been as expected: offensively gifted but at times a defensive liability. The club is working with his all-around game, but his scoring touch is much-needed.
Meanwhile, right-handed defenceman Hunter Brzustewicz, one of two blueliners acquired, signed an entry-level contract with Calgary last week. Brzustewicz the 19-year-old third-round pick in 2023 who skates for the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, finishes the regular season on Saturday. He heads into the final two clashes of the campaign having collected 13 goals and a league-best 77 assists for a Rangers team that will place fourth in the Western Conference.
Joni Jurmo, the 2020 third-round pick, has completed his SM-Liiga season in Finland. The 6-foot-5 defender is a good skater, but has holes in his game, and the club would need to see him among AHL competition to have a deeper sense of his potential.
