Confirmed Trade: [VAN/CGY] Elias Lindholm for Andrei Kuzmenko, Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo, 2024 1st, cond. 2024 4th

[bringbacktheskate604]

I truly wonder about Lindholm as he has been a ghost this year, he has ONE more goal than Kuzmenko fwiw. He never really produced at a high end clip without Johnny and Chuk, so I am curious how they deploy him in Van. I think he and Petey could be a good duo.

I think this deal was all about getting EP someone. Most think he will go back to the lotto line but I'm the opposite.
JT and Brock have been great with anyone, we have needed a 2nd line all year.

 

[Peter Griffin]

time will tell, he does look really good but i wasn't that impressed his game at the WJC
but also Brz has also lost his production too, so there's that.

But i haven't seen enough good from Willander to be a much better prospect
what Brzustewicz is atm

Willander has better size, skating and defensive awareness. Offensively, Willander probably won’t ever be more than a 30~ point guy at the NHL level, but it’s a very safe bet he’ll make it.

Willander was quite impressive defensively during the WJC, I don’t believe he allowed a goal against the entire tournament until the gold medal game? How was Brzustewicz’ world juniors performance?

 

[Johnsie19]

I think this deal was all about getting EP someone. Most think he will go back to the lotto line but I'm the opposite.
JT and Brock have been great with anyone, we have needed a 2nd line all year.

It's also about getting a versatile fwd, who is excellent on draws and kills penalties. If he can contribute some offense that'd be nice too.

 

[Rick Rocket]

Looks like a good trade for both teams.

I'm sad to see Kuzy go... but he was well aware he had to get his game going. I do believe he would've eventually got to where the coaching staff wanted but time just ran out. I liked him for many reasons, I'm sure he will bounce back in Calgary.

 

[Rowlet]

Drafted Demko in round 2. Elite goalie
Drafted Forsling in round 5. Top 4 defenseman
Boeser 23rd OA
Pettersson 5OA 2nd best player in the draft
Hughes 7OA best player in the draft

There are plenty of good picks too. Juolevi was the one that was inexcusable with Tkachuk and Keller still on the board. I can understand the logic of Virtanen with those physical tools. I can understand McCann too.

He had to be forced into Pettersson and Hughes

He also traded away Forsling for a guy who played 17 games with the team and then played 79 NHL games over the next 8 seasons for 5 different NHL teams and then played in the AHL for the next 6

Boeser and Demko were found by Judd Brackett, who Benning forced out and who went on to join the Wild.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

pace for 100 points... name the last d+1 season d-man who has done that in the CHL/OHL?
i think he is having a monster season, best season any d-man is having in a very long time

do explain, because i see his game translate big time to the NHL

He is not a great skater or defensive player though. Maybe he has a similar career as Yandle or Ghost.

 

[Albatros]

He reached for Virtanen over Nylander at #5 because Virtanen was from Vancouver, he took McCann over Pastrnak the pick before he was taken despite the Canucks having extremely good European scouts, he reached for Juolevi at #5 over Tkachuk even though they were from the same team because he wanted a Defenseman, and he wanted to take Glass over Pettersson but was overruled by his own staff after how terrible Virtanen and Juolevi were.

None of those picks were all that controversial at the time though, even Glass over Pettersson wouldn't have been.

 

[Double Dion]

He had to be forced into Pettersson and Hughes

He also traded away Forsling for a guy who played 17 games with the team and then played 79 NHL games over the next 8 seasons for 5 different NHL teams and then played in the AHL for the next 6

Boeser and Demko were found by Judd Brackett, who Benning forced out and who went on to join the Wild.

I mean you can't blame him for the mistakes while simultaneously giving credit to subordinates for his successes. He's the man in the chair. He's responsible for the good and the bad.

 

[Johnsie19]

Willander has better size, skating and defensive awareness. Offensively, Willander probably won’t ever be more than a 30~ point guy at the NHL level, but it’s a very safe bet he’ll make it.

The biggest thing the jumps off the page between them is skating. Willander is an ++ skater and Brz is average to +. And Willander is aggresive. He just projects as a perfect supplementary top 4 type. Bzu is more boom or bust.

 

[Double Dion]

He is not a great skater or defensive player though. Maybe he has a similar career as Yandle or Ghost.

I think he's a very good defensive player. Average skater.

 

[Rowlet]

None of those picks were all that controversial at the time though, even Glass over Pettersson wouldn't have been.

The Canucks were routinely mocked for all three from the moment the picks were made, including picking Pettersson over Glass, though that one turned out to be amazing.

 

[Russian_fanatic]

I think the trade rationale was Kuzmenko had to go out the other way to make the trade work, so he's essentially a cap dump, with the potential to get it back on track with a rebuilding team and flipped next trade deadline. He was never going to work under Tocchet. He has 7 points in his last 27 games, and Tocchet just didn't trust him anymore.

The first was going out to get a player like Lindholm, especially when a team at the top of the standing calls, because that pick is going to be at the end of the 1st round.

Lekkermaki/Willander are off limits. I'd wager Podkolzin wasn't offered as he's pretty close to being an NHL player and we need cost controlled contacts. Podkolzin probably replaces Garland in the next couple seasons. Him and Hogs where never on the table.

Our top defensive prospects are Willander, D-Petey, and Hunter(all RHD). When having a guy like Hughes, having an offensive defenseman isn't a necessity. Reports are Canucks won't even trade Willander for Guentzal, and D-Petey is loved by this organization and he's coming over next season. The only available prospect which they had to dangle was Hunter.

 

[Rowlet]

I mean you can't blame him for the mistakes while simultaneously giving credit to subordinates for his successes. He's the man in the chair. He's responsible for the good and the bad.

That's not the intention, however when the ex president as well as ex scouting staff come out and talk about how much more difficult he made things, that's worth taking into account.

 

[Albatros]

The Canucks were routinely mocked for all three, including picking Pettersson over Glass, though that one turned out to be fine.

Hardly any of those mockers themselves had been any higher on Pastrňák originally though.

 

[vcanuck]

time will tell, he does look really good but i wasn't that impressed his game at the WJC
but also Brz has also lost his production too, so there's that.

But i haven't seen enough good from Willander to be a much better prospect
what Brzustewicz is atm

The coach was... he was on the Swedes top D pairing shutting down other teams top line

Wallinder gets Lindholm 1 for 1.

 

[Rowlet]

Hardly any of those mockers themselves had been any higher on Pastrňák originally though.

Sure, the Pastrnak one was impossible to see coming, though the Canucks have had good European scouting and Benning reportedly just went with BPA instead of listening to them

 

[Johnsie19]

I think the trade rationale was Kuzmenko had to go out the other way to make the trade work, so he's essentially a cap dump, with the potential to get it back on track with a rebuilding team and flipped next trade deadline. He was never going to work under Tocchet. He has 7 points in his last 27 games, and Tocchet just didn't trust him anymore.

The first was going out to get a player like Lindholm, especially when a team at the top of the standing calls, because that pick is going to be at the end of the 1st round.

Lekkermaki/Willander are off limits. I'd wager Podkolzin wasn't offered as he's pretty close to being an NHL player and we need cost controlled contacts. Podkolzin probably replaces Garland in the next couple seasons. Him and Hogs where never on the table.

Our top defensive prospects are Willander, D-Petey, and Hunter(all RHD). When having a guy like Hughes, having an offensive defenseman isn't a necessity. Reports are Canucks won't even trade Willander for Guentzal, and D-Petey is loved by this organization and he's coming over next season. The only available prospect which they had to dangle was Hunter.

People don't realize the Canucks just freed up 5.5 mil in cap for next yr while getting better now. There is a lot they can do with that.

 

[Peter Griffin]

He had to be forced into Pettersson and Hughes

He also traded away Forsling for a guy who played 17 games with the team and then played 79 NHL games over the next 8 seasons for 5 different NHL teams and then played in the AHL for the next 6

Boeser and Demko were found by Judd Brackett, who Benning forced out and who went on to join the Wild.

Benning found Kole Lind. “Why is nobody taking Kole Lind?!?!?”

 

[Rowlet]

Benning found Kole Lind. “Why is nobody taking Kole Lind?!?!?”

Guess we know why now

 

[Coffee]

How was Brzustewicz’ world juniors performance?

wow dude, just wow

 

[Yepthatsme]

I’d like to see if Pettersson and Lindholm have chemistry, I bet they gel right away.
But come playoffs, having a trio of Petterson, Miller and Lindholm down the middle would easily be able to go head to head with Vegas trio of Eichel, Stephenson and Karlsson. Having Lindholm gives Tocchett so many options in how he chooses to use him. But Lindholm will make their special teams that much better.

Lindholm needs to play with star linemates and have them carry him in order to get the most out of him offensively. Hes just not good enough to make his linemates better.

Lindholm was on year 3 of vastly improving his linemates. Gaudreau and Tkachuk had the best years of their careers to that point centered by him. Then Toffoli and Dube had the best years of their careers centered by him. This season Sharangovich was having the best season of his career, Mangiapane was having the best 5v5 production of his career, and Huberdeau was back to being a point per game with him. Saying Lindholm doesn’t make his linemates better is blatantly false.

 

[David71]

this trade will be a WIN IF, vancouver wins a cup and goes far. they still have next year as window opportunity for the core. B. if peterson decides to bolt, lindholm is good plan B option for them to resign. and van gets some nice prospects/nhl players for a potential petterson deal if it comes down to that in the summer.

 

[orcatown]

From a Canuck view point, this was a dump. Kuzmenko was repeatly tried in the top 6 and for a good while with Peterson. Didn't work for either and there wasn't the pop in Pettersson game until he was moved away from Kuzmenko. One of the major problems was that Pettersson was constantly pushed into a defensive game to cover up for Kuzmenko which greatly limited his offense. Pettersson did an under-rated and largely unapprecaited job of doing this, but you don't want Pettersson in that role.

Kuzmenko simply was too much of a drag on Pettersson and his other top 6 linemates and eventually relagated to the so called third line (could easily have been called the worse line). Without Pettersson to cover for him, Kuzmenko's poor play became even more evident. At first. people blamed Tocchet for being too rough on him and questioned if Kuzmenko was playing all that bad. However, when he was moved down line up and his limited skating and frankly dreadful defensive game became glaringly apparent, there were few left in Vancover who were making any more excuses .

Thus, looking ahead, the Canucks had 5.5 salaried winger who fitted no where on the team. And he was carrying that salary into a year when the Canucks had some important free and restricted free agants to sign. The Canucks needed to move his cap hit out. It, is for example, the difference b/w re-signing someone like Joshua or letting him go. Getting Kuzmenko really is, or was , essential in terms of the future.

Kuzmenko may go to Calgary and blossom. But given their needs, and the inability of Kuzmenko to function within the Canucks structure, it was important for Vancouver to get him off the future payroll.

 

[LemonSauceD]

Why. You paid a very high price. I didn’t want the Avs to give up that much for a rental.

kuzmenko killed the Avs last season. Lindholm never has.

This is what you offered for Lindholm


2024 1st + Sean Behrens (LHD at Univ of Denver) + Oskar Olausson + 2026 2nd round pick + RyJo for Lindholm

 

[Johnsie19]

this trade will be a WIN IF, vancouver wins a cup and goes far. they still have next year as window opportunity for the core. B. if peterson decides to bolt, lindholm is good plan B option for them to resign. and van gets some nice prospects/nhl players for a potential petterson deal if it comes down to that in the summer.

I just puked in my mouth at the prospect of losing Pettersson and then signing Lindholm

The coach was... he was on the Swedes top D pairing shutting down other teams top line

Wallinder gets Lindholm 1 for 1.

He was unavailable in a Lindholm trade