Problem is that the Canucks Brass said they intended to resign them when they were acquired. The rumour was that Lindholm's ask was in the 9M range a few years ago but that was just a rumour. The Agent for Zadorov said that Zadorov's price for resigning was lower immediately after the trade than after the season was over which begs the question, how often do player's asking prices go down over time and why do some teams delude themselves into believing it will.
It is like betting against their own team's success.
Every single GM who acquires a pending UFA pays lip service to trying to re-sign him.
Not signing Lindholm at this deal is a fantastic move for us. I don't think he will be worth it in Boston, in Vancouver it would have been cripplingly stupid.
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Lindholm is very prone to fit and Boston is a good fit that will obscure a lot of his deficiencies. He has good D and superlative wingers to potentially play with which will slow his decline and make this signing look a lot better than it would if he had gone and ended up playing somewhere he was asked to do too much.
That said, I think this deal ages poorly. I can see the Zadorov one working out based on fit. I think by year 3 or 4 this deal looks rough as he loses more and more of his legs.
That said, Lindholm is a tremendously canny and an absolute puck thief. A lot of people who don't know what they are watching will think he is lucky to get to a lot of pucks, but he does some serious ju jitsu shit where he nudges an elbow, pokes a back of a knee, gets a guy off balance, and then strips the opponent in a puck battle he had like 40% chance of winning. Like a poor man's Bergeron or like a lesser (or injured) Mark Stone.
So if you enjoy watching a really cerebral player who plays the right way, you'll enjoy him. But I don't think the contract ages well.