The Chris Johnston Show: Chris Johnston and Julian McKenzie talking about the Elias Lindholm contract situation with the Calgary Flames.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Johnston: “And so, look, this is, the (Elias) Lindholm one still is fascinating to me though, because I would have thought for sure he’d be signed. Especially because of his willingness to be signed, but they’ve kind of hit the mud it seems like on the finances in that one.
McKenzie: “And that’s it. That, that, see what you just said there? That’s why they’re in the mud. Because if, if. It’s a money thing. Like we would have seen him signed by now, if it wasn’t for this money thing.
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Elias Lindholm has drawn the line in the sand and said ‘Pay me what I’m worth.’ And the team is probably thinking, I don’t know if I want to pay him all that much money. That has to be it. Other than, I mean, we’ve seen the changes in the front office. We see the coaching change. There are other guys who are looking to change their tune. Elias Lindholm wants what he wants in terms of money, and he knows no other team can pay him that. The Calgary Flames can do that. Once he hits the market who knows what he could get. But I get it.
Johnston: “Let’s call it what it is. Now we have to see what he does this season. He had really good numbers last year. I mean, does that happen again, or is he potentially going into a free agent, you know, situation where he doesn’t have such a good season?
I mean, I don’t know what’s going to happen but that becomes a dynamic. Obviously, I’m sure it’s something in the back of his mind. It’s probably in the back of the team’s mind too.
Like, let’s let this play out a bit. Like, how do these, how do things look after 20 games. Maybe there’s a chance where he started and he’s not comfortable with this, and they can maybe get the numbers lower. I mean, that’s, that’s sort of tends to be what happens in all these situations.
I think the (William) Nylander situation in Toronto has some comparables, in that Willam Nylander is actually off to a great start for the Leafs. But you know, there was a world where if that didn’t happen, maybe that could put some pressure in a certain way in negotiations. Maybe he’s putting pressure on the team now to try to get something done. I mean, that’s, that’s how this kind of goes. Which is why so many teams I think, like the lock up the player before the season starts.
Remember we saw a whack of extensions there right before the year just because, first of all, the just removes the question, and it takes that dynamic out of play.”
McKenzie: “Yeah, it becomes less of a story. But in this case with Calgary Flames, where it doesn’t seem as if there’s a lot of dull moments, it’s definitely going to be a situation we’re going to continue to follow.”
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