Elias Lindholm has been a name surrounding trade rumours for a couple of weeks now. The 29-year-old centre is an upcoming unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. With the Calgary Flames taking the retool/rebuild route, it’s way more likely than not that these rumours lead to a trade. Lindholm has been linked to a handful of teams. First, Pierre LeBrun mentioned the Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche as potential suitors for Lindholm. Now a few other teams have joined them, those being the Winnipeg Jets, Carolina Hurricanes, and Washington Capitals. All five of these teams could offer a solid deal, some could easily offer nicer packages than others.
A quick recap of Lindholm’s season
Elias Lindholm has retained his role as the Flames first-line centre, but he has not had the strongest 2023–24 season. In 37 games, he has eight goals and 24 points. An 82-game pace would be 17 goals and 53 points which is a decently sized drop from his 2022–23 stats where he already had a pretty large drop in production. Part of this is the lack of quality linemates, but nonetheless, Lindholm is hard to notice. He sort of glides around and is there to finish the play but you don’t necessarily hear his name or see him. He doesn’t seem to have the urge to forecheck or drive the play which is not what you want to see from your top line centre. There is nothing to really help paint a positive picture offensively for Lindholm as his underlying numbers are weak and he’s not been unlucky.
What draws teams to Lindholm is his defensive play and former production. Around the league, the belief is that Lindholm can play Selke-level defence which comes from the fact he finished second in Selke voting in 2021–22. He also logs a high amount of penalty-killing minutes, being first on the Flames. Then there’s the thought that he can produce on a better team, which is a good bet. He likely won’t get back to a consistent point-per-game pace, but he has shown that he performs better with higher-end linemates. Playing with Tyler Toffoli on a defence-first team last year saw him score 64 points which isn’t exactly what you want to see from your 1C but a solid amount nonetheless. Then there’s the 2021–22 season where he scored 82 points and 42 goals playing alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk.
A new rumour on the street involving the Avalanche for Lindholm
As read above, the logical fit for Lindholm is the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche are a top team in the league and are obviously Cup-hunting—especially after last year’s early exit. After Nathan MacKinnon, they don’t have a true second-line centre as Ryan Johansen has struggled, Lindholm could definitely fill that hole. The speculated price of a first-round pick and Bowen Byram is very intriguing.
Who is Bowen Byram?
To see Bowen Byram’s name as a rumoured return for Lindholm is a welcomed surprise. Byram was a fourth overall pick by the Avalanche back in the 2019 draft. This summer he turned 22 and is listed at 6’1 and 190 lbs. Despite primarily playing as a left defenceman to match his handedness, Byram can play either left or right side. In his draft year, Byram was viewed as a fantastic all-around defenceman. What stood out most about him and still does was his skating, a fast and explosive stride mixed in with some great edgework. Other highlighted aspects in his draft year were his passing and hockey IQ which have seemed to also followed him into the NHL.
Byram’s career stats
Byram debuted back in the 2020–21 season. He played a total of 19 games, only finding himself on the scoresheet for two assists. The following year, he faced some injury problems, limiting him to only 30 games. In those games, he put up 5 goals and 17 points, which was a pace of 13 goals and 46 points through a full season. Byram and the Avalanche went on to win the cup that year and Byram did not struggle, getting a solid 9 assists in 20 games and some decent underlying numbers.
Byram took steps forward the next season scoring 10 goals and 24 points in a year in which injuries held him to just 42 games. This put him on a similar pace to the prior season of 19 goals and 46 points. He once again got playoff action getting three assists in the Avs’ seven-game exit. Now we enter this year where Byram has had his fair share of struggles. Thankfully, he’s missed none of the Avalanche’s 38 games, but in those 38, his production hasn’t been the greatest. Byram has 12 points split evenly with six goals and six assists. If he keeps this pace and doesn’t miss a game, he will finish with 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points. With these all added up, his career totals come out as 129 games played, 21 goals, 34 assists—a total of 55 points and 0.43 points per game.
Isolated Impact
Using HockeyViz.com, we’ll take a look at Bowen Byram’s career through isolated impact charts.
Byram has had an interesting career so far. In his 19-game stint in 2020–21, he had the best defensive impact of his career with -3.5% but the worst offensive with -8.3%. The next season, he had the best offensive with a +4.5% and the worst defensive with a +1.1%. After that, Byram’s performance seemed to take a hit. His offence heavily declined, and while his defence slightly improved, it’s not nearly enough to outweigh the decline of the offence.
Part of his decline and struggle is definitely his injury problems. In both 2020–21 and 2021–22, Byram had problems with concussions. Most of his seasons were limited due to them and he wasn’t feeling like himself. Then in 2022–23, he was out with a lower-body injury. The rehab from concussions is already hard, add on a difficult lower-body injury, and it makes sense that Byram hasn’t necessarily performed the best.
It’s obvious that Byram has the skill to make strong progress in his game. He showed part of what he could be during the 2021–22 season. To start this year, Byram played alongside Samuel Girard. Both being left-handed defenceman, Byram had to play on his offside. While he did put up good underlyings, Byram has stated the difficulty of playing the offhand. Then Girard entered the player assistance program for mental health help. Without Girard, Byram found himself back on his natural side. His numbers took a hit, but he felt more comfortable. Both scenarios have contrasting sides. The split between those two scenarios is about 55/45, impacting his analytics. Byram has started to find his footing in recent games, posting better results.
A potential strong package for the Flames
Trading a struggling player asking for north of $9 million yearly in Elias Lindholm for a first-round pick and Bowen Byram would be a great trade by the Flames. It would very much be a surprise if the Avalanche offered up any package including Byram. Byram has had his fair share of struggles to start his NHL career but high potential is still there. His play has taken a hit after a strong rookie season with injuries playing a major part. He fits perfectly with the Flames’ plan to bring in younger, struggling players with upside instead of picks or prospects. Byram has the tools and skills to become a top-end defenceman one day if he can stay healthy. If he is offered, the Flames should be all over it.
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