Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesCalgary Flames @NHLFlames
TRADE ALERT!
The #Flames have acquired Andrei Kuzmenko, a 2024 first round pick, Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo and a conditional 2024 fourth round pick from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Elias Lindholm: https://t.co/aGOGAdiJQ5 pic.twitter.com/8mhmTnRWQx
Vancouver Canucks
Lindholm hit his peak during the 2021-22 season when he totaled 42 goals and 40 assists alongside Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau. This season, he’s floundering. The Swede has scored nine goals—just five at even strength—plus 23 assists in 49 games. He hasn’t driven offense, and his defense is not up to snuff.
Where is his reality? Probably somewhere in the middle. Lindholm has made his career as an offensive driver and solid defender who provides both shooting and passing prowess in the offensive zone. He produced at a 70-point pace in his three seasons before that aforementioned career year. He’s a low-end first-line center.
While the Canucks did not have as clear-cut a need to add a center as other teams, they certainly have room for their new import. Lindholm will either be a deck-stacking third-line center or allow J.T. Miller to move to the wing, where he is at his best. He should jump onto the top power-play unit and contribute. The 2013 fifth overall pick scored 10 power-play goals in each of the previous two seasons, and he’ll be well-fed by Quinn Hughes.
And while his play dipped after his top weapons in Calgary departed, he should be well sheltered in Vancouver. Elias Pettersson’s line will still be the primary target for opposing coaches in matching lines.
And while acquiring the best player available makes a lot of sense for a top team, there are still some questions about how good the Canucks truly are. They are scoring on 13.2 percent of their shots on goal, and Thatcher Demko is playing at the level of a Vezina-winner. They’re going to regress. It’s just a question of how much.
Still, their record has them as the top team in the Western Conference. If that’s not a true reflection of their quality, then Lindholm brings them a lot closer.
Calgary Flames
The Flames are rightfully early sellers even if the standings suggest that’s premature. Tyler Toffoli was traded over the summer, and Nikita Zadorov went to Vancouver early in the season. Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev join Lindholm as pending unrestricted free agents. The team is underwhelming for a second straight season. The makeup needs a shake-up.
For Vancouver’s purposes, Andrei Kuzmenko represents a salary dump and house-cleaning of a player who had fallen out of favor with head coach Rick Tocchet. He could end up being found money for Calgary.
Kuzmenko scored 39 goals and added 35 assists in 81 games in his debut NHL season for Vancouver. He would have been one of the top players available at the 2023 trade deadline had the Canucks not opted to sign him to a two-year, $5.5 million deal.
Kuzmenko’s 27.3 shooting percentage last season should have signaled to them that his season would be an anomaly. But the Russian has 21 points in 43 games despite averaging only 14:21 in ice time.
He’s a weak defensive winger, which got him in the doghouse in Vancouver, but the Flames have room to give him offensive opportunities. If Kuzmenko can rebound and even play like a 50- to 60-point winger, he could either be a big hit in Calgary or become a trade asset at next season’s deadline.
We called Hunter Brzustewicz Vancouver’s “best value” of the 2023 NHL draft. The 75th overall pick continues to prove that correct. His 69 points in 47 games for the Kitchener Rangers ranks him third among all players in the Ontario Hockey League.
Now consider that he is a defenseman.
Brzustewicz is slightly undersized at 6’0″, 190 pounds and not a great skater. That’s not a good start for an NHL projection. Yet the American makes up for a lot of that with vision, footwork and soft hands.
He is the player you want with the puck in all three zones. The 19-year-old makes the plays to get his team in the offensive zone and then dictates from the blue line. He doesn’t have a strong shot but knows how to get it through traffic.
With 61 in 47 games, Brzustewicz is on pace to tally the most assists by an OHL defenseman in his post-draft season since Jamie Rivers in 1994.
His defensive game has holes and, unless he either improves his skating or learns how to compensate, that probably continues to be a problem at the pro level. He has a chance to be a second-pairing defenseman in the NHL who drives offense but needs a partner who can anchor him. If the 2023 draft had a do-over, he wouldn’t have fallen past the top 50.
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