Frank Seravalli Lindholm Update
Frank Seravalli on the latest DFO Rundown Podcast said that Lindholm's camp has been listening "more intently" to the #Flames more than they did earlier in the summer and said the door is open to re-signing him.
— Andrew Mangiapane is the best Breadman (@FieryBreadman) August 21, 2023
by fierybreadman
6 Comments
In a shocking turn of events Seravalli went for the big headline and is already backpedaling after only a couple months. Dipshit
What a conflicting situation. I love Lindy and it would be great if he re-signed, even just for the sake of the reputation of the franchise, but the reality is he will be 29 soon and I don’t think he will settle for shorter term. So, I remain on the “I hope he gets dealt” train
With no insider information, this is my bet on what has happened with Lindholm:
1. At the end of the season, Lindholm was vocal about being unhappy with the direction of the team; especially with the coaching of Sutter.
2. Treliving communicated to ownership that the team was unhappy with Sutter, and asked to fire him and hire a new coach. Ownership rejected this, thought Treliving was over-stating things, and Treliving decided not to extend his contract.
3. Lindholm, Backlund, and several other players made trade requests to Don Maloney because they would not continue with Sutter as coach. Ownership was informed, an investigation was performed, and they decided it was easier to replace coaches than half of the core. The trade requests were rescinded.
4. Conroy became general manager, hired Huska as a coach, and started negotiating with players. Hanifin doesn’t want to commit to playing out the rest of his career in a hockey crazy, Canadian market. Lindholm doesn’t want to commit to a team when he doesn’t know if we can win here. Backlund wants more term than most teams can give a player over the age of 35. Toffoli was upset that he wasn’t the top priority given that he was the top scorer.
5. Toffoli requested and was given a trade.
6. GMs across the league were testing the rookie GM by giving him underwhelming offers on his expiring UFA assets. Conroy rejected these offers knowing he could always do better around the trade deadline.
7. Negotiations have continued with Lindholm, Hanifin, and Backlund but nothing has fundamentally changed. The AAV, term, and conditions were never an issue for Lindholm and Hanifin, and the Flames would be insane to offer Backlund more than a year or two contract at this point in his career.
I think the Flames are planning on starting the season without any changes. If they get off to a good start they hope Lindholm signs, they can wait for a team to need to trade for Hanifin, and they can talk to Backlund about how he wants to end his career when they approach the deadline. If they’re outside of the playoff picture at the beginning of the 2024, I would expect the Flames to become a fire sale where most of Hanifin, Lindholm, Backlund, Toffoli, Kylington, Zadorov, Osterle, and Gilbert are moved; and players like Zary, Klapka, Schwindt, Kuznetsov, Solovyov, and Poirier are called up to fill out the roster.
Where are all the dipshits who flamed me for calling this toad out last month now??
Frank sucks. Me and all my homies hate frank.
I do believe this situation is much more in control than Seravalli makes it out to be. They’re discussing a long-term extension and if it gets done that’s likely when both sides are in the same continent.
For what it’s worth I hope we can figure it out. He’s likely our best centre we’ve had since Nieuwendyk and defensive centres tend to age better. Those who want to see him go don’t seem to grasp there’s nothing better to do with the cap space than sign a 1C, and the late first we would get for him is a coin toss to even make the NHL.
NoT tO ThRoW aNoThEr LoG oNtO tHe FiRe
That clown was totally giggling like an idiot when he tweeted that.