It’s looking like Elias Lindholm will not be playing for the Vancouver Canucks next season.
More reports today suggest the team is ready to give up on re-signing the pending unrestricted free agent.
“I think the Canucks are conceding they won’t be able to do Lindholm,” said Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on today’s episode of the Jeff Marek Show. “I never want to say never, but as it stands right now, I think they’re moving on and saying ‘Okay, who’s our next target?’”
Friedman isn’t the only industry insider reporting that the Canucks and Lindholm are breaking up.
“They took their best shot here, it’s not going to happen,” said CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal today on the Donnie & Dhali show, although he did say that Lindholm’s camp wouldn’t confirm that the player is hitting free agency.
These two reports follow a slew of news over the past week all pointing towards the two sides parting ways this summer. The team reportedly was willing to offer a near $50 million contract but that wasn’t enough to entice the player, likely due to a combination of financial and non-financial factors.
It’s a very weak class of free agent centres and thus, Lindholm has a great chance of earning a big contract. There’s likely a team that would be willing to outbid the Canucks reported offer. The 29-year-old will almost certainly sign the largest contract of his career this summer.
The Canucks dealt an impressive package, including a first-round pick and highly rated prospect Hunter Brzustewicz along with more, for Lindholm this year. He played just 26 regular season games with his new team, although he did make a very positive impact in the postseason.