The Calgary Flames sit 10th last in the NHL despite two consecutive wins against tough opponents—first against the Tampa Bay Lightning and then against the Florida Panthers. It’s a tough league to win in when you start the season 2–7–1 in your first 10 games. On top of needing to overcome a brutal start, the Flames still have nine pending unrestricted free agents on their current NHL roster, including several high-profile names. Number one on the list remains first line centre, Elias Lindholm.
Recently, Lindholm’s name has surfaced in trade rumours. On the latest episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek, it was suggested that the Colorado Avalanche have inquired about acquiring Lindholm from the Flames. This is an intriguing option, but with the Avalanche being in win-now mode, the Flames likely wouldn’t receive a high-value roster player in return.
If the Flames do end up trading Lindholm—and right now that appears to be the most likely scenario—the team will almost certainly have to play without an external option to fill that role. So, based on the organizational depth at centre, what would the Flames’ roster look like if they traded Lindholm and didn’t get an NHL centre back? Let’s take a look
Internal centre options currently on the NHL roster
The current roster looks like this down the middle:
1C: Elias Lindholm
2C: Nazem Kadri
3C: Mikael Backlund
4C: Adam Ruzicka
Deleting Lindholm will leave a hole, but it might not be as massive as it seems. Lindholm currently does not play the most minutes per game out of the four regular centremen at 5v5. Kadri actually averages more 5v5 TOI per game at 13:54, with Lindholm second at 13:42, and Backlund third at 13:38. It’s a small difference, but a significant one. Because the Flames have three centres that play almost the exact same amount at 5v5, they could essentially swap any of those top three centres without much consequence. Kadri might already be this team’s 1C as well.
That definitely helps fill in the gap at 1C. Sliding Kadri’s line up one notch, and potentially even Backlund’s, means the Flames would need to fill the 3C slot, not the 1C slot. That’s a much easier ask.
In the NHL, the Flames have six players who can and have played the centre position professionally. Not including the three current centres, these players are Connor Zary, Dillon Dube, and Yegor Sharangovich. All three are playing on the wing right now, but any could theoretically slide into the centre position. The easiest answer would be to move Sharangovich to centre, keep him with Andrew Managiapane, and add a winger like Dube, A.J. Greer, or Walker Duehr. This would immediately become the Flames’ third line.
Another option currently in the NHL would be Kevin Rooney. Though he’s still on the injured reserve, he has started skating and could return in early 2024, though there is no timeline on his injury. Rooney had a solid preseason for the Flames, and if he can return sometime close to the potential Lindholm trade, he could easily slot in at centre.
Flames line shuffling if Lindholm is gone
The option I personally prefer would be to use a Lindholm deletion as a reason to try new line combinations. The Flames haven’t shuffled their lines in quite some time, and the current configuration has yielded a mix of wins and losses. I wouldn’t touch the Zary, Kadri, Martin Pospisil line as they’ve been phenomenal; they would slide up to the first line.
From there though, I’d mix things up.
One line combination the Flames should try for a longer period of time is the trio of Mangiapane, Backlund, and Sharangovich. This line has only skated 5:06 at 5v5 this season, but they have absolutely dominated their opponents while together. The Huberdeau, Backlund, Coleman line has been okay for the Flames, but it doesn’t really make a ton of sense to keep Huberdeau in a checking role for too long. He needs a better situation.
In the bottom six, another interesting combination that has been incredible in limited minutes is the trio of Greer, Dube, and Coleman. Similar to the previous line, this trio has dominated in just under seven minutes of ice time, and could be worth trying for a longer stretch.
This leaves Huberdeau and Ruzicka as the only currently regular roster players without a line. It’s truly a shame what has happened to Huberdeau, but at this point, he’s the weakest link in the Flames’ offence. Perhaps you can reunite Huberdeau with Jakob Pelletier once he returns from injury, and slide Ruzicka or Rooney in as their centre. You’re probably rolling four lines anyway, so it doesn’t really matter how you order the lines. But, based on current stats, this is how the lineup looks with these shuffles:
| Line combination | TOI | CF% | SCF% | HDCF% | xGF% | GF% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zary – Kadri – Pospisil | 131:48 | 59.6 | 62.3 | 68.9 | 62.3 | 87.5 |
| Mangiapane – Backlund – Sharangovich | 5:06 | 90.9 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 95.3 | – |
| Greer – Dube – Coleman | 6:58 | 85.0 | 75.0 | 75.0 | 77.0 | 0.0 |
| Huberdeau – Rooney/Ruzicka – Pelletier | 0 | – | – | – | – | – |
Looks pretty good to me.
Special teams impact without Lindholm
What will be affected by Lindholm’s departure is both sides of special teams. The power play isn’t worth discussing because the Flames’ have one of the worst power plays in the entire NHL. Losing one of their “key” power play players can’t make things worse, let’s be honest.
On the penalty kill however, Lindholm plays an important role. He’s played the most total minutes on the penalty kill this season among all skaters, defencemen included. The Flames really only have four main penalty-killing forwards: Lindholm (78:58 TOI), Backlund (74:27), Coleman (49:52), and Sharangovich (49:15). The next forwards are Dube (24:09) and Mangiapane (23:57), their TOI significantly lower than those other four.
If Lindholm is traded, someone will have to step up, whether that’s Dube or Mangiapane, or it’s a new forward like Rooney or Pelletier. This is where the biggest impact will be felt.
A fresh start for all involved
Lindholm isn’t having that good of a year. He’s on pace for 51 points, he has some of the worst underlying numbers on the whole team, and he looks absolutely nothing like the Selke Trophy calibre player he’s demanding to be paid as. If the Flames can trade Lindholm and get a few high-value assets that will help in the future, they should do it.
This will not only set up the franchise going forward, but will rid them of a player demanding to be paid more than he is worth, and give them an opportunity to better optimize their line combinations.
With the way Lindholm has played this year, I truly don’t think the team will miss him. In fact, they could end up actually being better for it.
