I think it would be foolish to go for a show me deal after the season he just had. He needs to take the one with the best term, as close to his dollar range as possible. There are plenty of teams I think would be willing to pony up the 7 years to grab a much needed top 6 center regardless of fit:
Columbus - Stopgap for Fantilli
Arizona - Stopgap for Cooley
Buffalo - Bump one of Cozens/Thompson to RW
Winnipeg - behind Scheifele
Chicago - Bedard insulator (2C behind him)
Washington - Backstrom out, Washington offers a good cap chunk to grab him. Reluctance to rebuild
Anaheim - Stopcap/Veteran presence for the youngsters, moves Zegras/mctavish to LW
Nashville - 1/2 punch with ROR
Carolina - 2C behind Aho if Orlov is moved
And plenty more. I think many teams realize he isn’t worth the 8m+ Lindholm was seeking but I think it’s not out of question for him to get 7-7.9 with the cap going up and many teams starved for a center in a very weak UFA pool this year.
|