Its also not just do you sign Lindholm, its the opportunity cost of the 9 million.
So a team that was interested in Lindholm could have traded a package for him, or just signed a RoR, or acquired a Taylor Hall, Reilly Smith or Ryan Johansen for free (and had cap space left over) and kept their assets and picks
Assuming the Flames arent forced to take a ton of long term contract back for Lindholm you get a strong package and 9 million in flexibility by trading him.
This gives the team options to take advantage of cap dumps, and other teams cap vulnerabilities.
This is why the Kadri move made little sense - It removed flexibility. But Flames were operating from a position of weakness having lost their 2 faces of the franchise.
By locking in Lindholm the Flames further limit their flexibility going forward.
Lindholm on his own at $9 million isnt an issue. Even if he's 1$m overpaid at that price on a long term deal it that doesnt cripple the team. But having so much money tied up long term on depreciating assets (Older players) has a very large potential to handcuff this team over the next 8 years from a flexibility standpoint. And then they will be constantly operating from a place of weakness in both trade, UFA, and RFA negotiations.
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