Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Putting the C in Calgary on Elias Lindholm’s contract situation.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “Interesting with the (Elias) Lindholm deal, if they get there, and I think that’s a huge if. Like you mentioned, that one I don’t necessarily think they’re too concerned about term. Because I don’t think that Lindholm is thinking anything other than term …”
Friedman: “Yes.”
Marek: “… in his next deal. You have a thought on how close or far a part, or do you have a spidey sense or a which way the wind is blowing? However, you want to frame it about anything involving Lindholm and Calgary.
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Friedman: “You know, I want to be careful on this one. It was interesting. So, Lindholm spoke at that Flames golf tournament and, you know, he looked kind of, shall we say, unenthusiastic. And some people kind of took that as, ‘Aw, he doesn’t want to stay.’
And I was told by a couple of people that it should not be interpreted that way. It should be interpreted as more, he doesn’t want to talk about it and doesn’t like to talk about it.
Like you saw William Nylander come out and say ‘Look, I’m not talking about this again.’
And I wouldn’t be surprised if, at some point, Lindholm does the same think. I think he just doesn’t want to talk about it.
Look, I think they’ve talked to Lindholm. I think they really want to get him done. I just think that the number here, I’ve speculated the number was about (Bo) Horvat, that’s $8.5 (million). I think it was higher than that and I said it might be $8.75 or $9 (million). And look. the team hasn’t said this. The agents haven’t said this. But there are some people wondering if that number might even be higher because you have (Jonathan) Huberdeau at $10.5 (million), right?
So, I mean that’s always a tricky thing for an organization to do when a player comes in, they trade for a player, he gets the big deal at $10.5. What do you do with the guys on your team who have been there for a while?
So I think that’s what the Flames are trying to juggle. I don’t want to handicap this one. I don’t want to make predictions right now. But I do think getting to the number here is going to be the things that Lindholm’s camp at Newport and the Flames are going to have to navigate.”
…..
Marek: “Do you think Calgary’s performance to start the season in any way shape or form a factor in a Lindholm decision like we suspect it is with (Elias) Pettersson in Vancouver?”
Friedman: “I don’t see how it couldn’t be a factor. Like I don’t want to put to much, I don’t want to guess here on Lindholm’s motivations, cause I think after his first interview of the year that kind of happened a little bit. So I want to be careful. But Jeff, would you rather play for a team that looks like it’s going to win or a team that looks like it’s going to lose?”
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Marek: “Of course. A 100 percent”
Friedman: “I know you don’t care about winning, you just want the biggest check. So you could be indifferent, but I think a guy like Lindholm might feel otherwise.”
