Rumor mill: Elias Lindholm open to staying in Calgary

With the start of the 2023-2024 season fast approaching, certain rumours are starting to make the rounds.

We know that the Montreal Canadiens will have to make a few moves between now and the start of the season, as they have nearly 5 million above payroll.

If the Tricolore can’t free up that money, they’ll be forced to place Carey Price on the long-term injured list this off-season, something Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton would like to avoid.

The rumour mill is back in action this September, and many questions are being asked.

One of those questions is Elias Lindholm’s future with the Calgary Flames.

Last season was a very difficult one for the Flames, as they didn’t even qualify for the playoffs, despite having a good team.

With a change of coach, we can expect much better performances from the Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri of this world.

They didn’t live up to expectations, with seasons of 55 and 56 points respectively.

Both players, as well as others in the organization, didn’t seem at all satisfied with Darryl Sutter’s training methods.

Lindholm, who will reach the final year of his contract in 2023-2024, may well be interested in packing his bags and moving to a new environment.

However, Lindholm has stated that he would like to stay in Calgary.

The versatile center also had a slightly more difficult season with 64 points, compared with 82 points in as many games, including 42 goals in 2022.

The Flames can’t afford to lose Lindholm’s services via the autonomous player market in 2024.

He would become an unrestricted free agent if the two sides fail to reach an agreement.

If the stars don’t align on a contract extension, the option of trading him at the trade deadline is conceivable.

Ideally, however, the Flames would have to be out of the playoff picture, or receive impact players in return, should they be competitive next year.

The right-handed center’s next contract is rumored to be in the neighbourhood of $9 million per season.

By comparison, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Bo Horvat each earn $8.5 million per season.

Maxime Comtois to join Vegas Golden Knights

According to Marc-Olivier Beaudoin, Quebec’s Maxime Comtois could soon land a professional trial with the Golden Knights.

The Longueuil native was rumored to be involved in the Canada Junior Team scandal in 2018.

If an NHL team takes a chance on Comtois, we can expect that he won’t be implicated in the scandal after all.

It would be a bit ridiculous for Vegas, which just won the Stanley Cup, to sign a young player involved in this kind of story.

What does the future hold for Evgeny Kuznetsov and Anthony Mantha?

After a point-per-game season in 2021-2022, Evgeny Kuznetsov disappointed many last year with 55 points in 81 games.

According to Adam Proteau, Kuz is on thehot seat for next season.

The Washington Capitals would like to increase his trade value, because with a salary of $7.8 million per season for the next two years, he’s currently not worth much.

If Kuznetsov performs well in 2023-2024, he could be traded, but he could also be very useful to the Washington Capitals’ playoff hunt.

It will be interesting to see how this whole saga ends.

Quebec’s Anthony Mantha also had a disappointing campaign.

Commanding an annual salary of $5.7 million for another season, the Longueuil native no longer seems to be in Washington’s plans.

He would become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2024 if he doesn’t extend his contract with the team, which would make him attractive as a rental player at the trade deadline.

By withholding part of his salary for one remaining season, he could interest some contending teams, and this would free up payroll on the Washington side.

In short, the next few weeks should be busy for a number of clubs. There are a number of interesting rumours, and we can’t wait to see how they unfold.

In brief

– Listen now.

Asking NHL coaches about some of their favourite players they have coached over the years 🏒 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ScfWxMSOnO

– BarDown (@BarDown) September 2, 2023

– Too bad for CF Montreal. Vilsaint once again made his mark with a fine performance.

Once again, Jules-Anthony Vilsaint was @cfmontreal ‘s most electric, dynamic and dominant player For anyone who for the past 6 1/2 months has doubted or laughed at the guy who said he would be, you can send your apologies here. Thanks 😎 #cfmtl pic.twitter.com/AoOK9hRRxu

– Tony Marinaro (@TonyMarinaro) September 3, 2023

– What do you think?

– Nice run by Stanback.

– Quite a slap in the face.

Holy moly Kevin Kiermaier. 💪 pic.twitter.com/HFUNXdYZXn

– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 3, 2023

– Read more.