Holy smokes, found out about the Lindholm trade late and boy was I shocked at the overall return. That's a whole lot of pieces for a struggling rental that easily beat the expectations I had. The quality of the prospects are pretty good too as it sounds like they might have some NHL upside.
Obviously, Kuzmenko is the biggest name coming over from this trade. Not exactly sure what to make of him though, clearly his numbers especially from last year look mighty impressive. The big drop off in production this season is concerning though without a doubt. At his current value, his cap hit is not a bargain so I can see why Vancouver is willing to move on. If he does rediscover his scoring ways here, then naturally his contract could end up being a bargain.
From a cursory glance, he looks very shifty, looks like he has a quick set of hands, some crafty moves and pretty good vision. Sounds like he benefited greatly from Pettersson’s playmaking ability though and now that they’re not playing together as often, that might explain the drastic drop off.
Not sure what his role will be or who he’ll be playing with, but it seems like he’ll be given every offensive opportunity to succeed in terms of top 6 minutes and optimal PP time. He definitely brings some elements that the Flames don’t currently have which could be especially useful to our listless powerplay. Think he could stand to be more active away from the puck though. The current system and coach really rewards guys who play well without the puck and it seems like he could stand to be more engaged away from the puck.
Still hope the Flames can find a way to pry Nils Hoglander away from the Canucks. He's got a lot of Andrew Mangiapane in him and I think he'd thrive under this system and coach.
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