From what we have seen on this thread about rumoured teams that are the most interested in Lindholm, it sounds like Vancouver, Boston, Colorado and Winnipeg have shown the most interest. There might be more that I’m forgetting. Those four teams make up the top 4 teams in the NHL right now so the first round picks that you get back from any of them is likely a late first round pick unless you get them to move the pick to the 2025 draft.
So if Conroy can create a bidding war amongst those teams, he hopefully can get one of them to up the value of the prospect in the trade. To me, Boston’s problem is that even their top prospect is a lower level prospect compared to the other teams. If you could get Colorado to offer up Ritchie or Gulyayev… then Vancouver would have to offer up one of Wallinder or Lekkerimaki in order to beat that offer. Similarly, Winnipeg would have to offer a prospect like Barlow or Lambert to beat that offer from Colorado.
I think it’s unlikely either of Vancouver or Winnipeg would pay that price. However, I think it’s a real possibility to get Colorado to include one of Ritchie or Gulyayev. They are in the middle of their cup window, MacKinnon is at the top of his game and they have the opportunity to pull a Tampa/Kucherov move this season if Landeskog comes back in the playoffs. Also, the flames could take back a contract like Johansen’s as a salary dump - which adds solid value because that saves them $4 million in cap space next season.
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