Seravalli: Elias Lindholm ‘leaning towards not re-signing’ with Calgary Flames

Here’s Seravalli:

“The way I understand it, the Flames and Lindholm’s camp met recently and Craig Conroy made a pitch, a play of ‘hey not only would we like you to stay, but we’re ready to roll out the red carpet and we’re ready to pay you and give you what you want.’ And he’s waiting on an answer. And the general speculation around the league is that Elias Lindholm is leaning towards not re-signing with the Flames. But to my knowledge, has not given them an official no.”

Lindholm joined the Flames via a trade with Carolina at the 2018 NHL Draft, which also saw Noah Hanifin become a Flame. He immediately found a niche on the Flames’ top line, serving as the two-way conscience to linemates Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, and later Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, and emerging as one of the NHL’s top two-way forwards in the process.

In five seasons with the Flames, playing top line minutes and also featuring prominently on both sides of special teams, Lindholm has 139 goals and 325 points over 369 games. He was the runner-up for the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward in 2021-22. He’s entering the final season of a six-year deal with a $4.85 million cap hit, and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent upon expiry on July 1, 2024.

Lindholm’s status has been the subject of a lot of discussion recently. It’s been reported that he’s open to staying, and that he hasn’t made a decision (yet) but the Flames aren’t pressuring him to make one quite yet. If Lindholm does prefer a future elsewhere, it both creates a big hole in the Flames’ line… and gives general manager Craig Conroy a very big potential trade chip to work with.