Geek of the Week: Elias Lindholm Finally Delivering on his Potential

Scott Maran

2018-12-02


As a fifth overall pick by the Carolina Hurricanes, Elias Lindholm faced immediate lofty expectations once he entered the NHL. However, by the time the Canes moved on from him this summer, there were concerns that Lindholm was stagnating. After scoring 39 points as a 20 year old, Lindholm only reached a high of 45 points over the next three seasons, tallying 38 goals through his next 235 games.

However, since coming over to the Calgary Flames in the Dougie Hamilton trade, he has exploded onto the scene as one of the NHL’s top scorers. Through the first third of the season, he has provided the 35th most fantasy value out of all skaters (in a standard 12-team Yahoo league measuring goals, assists, shots on goal, power-play points, and hits).
 

 

Rank

FHG Value

GP

G

A

SOG

PPP

HITS

Dougie Hamilton

34

41

25

3

6

91

2

44

Elias Lindholm

35

39

📢 advertisement:

25

11

15

68

11

21

Colin Miller

36

39

27

2

10

54

6

45


His offensive output has skyrocketed to the point where he’s currently at a point-per-game pace (one of only 43 forwards to do so). Previously in his career Lindholm has never come close to offensive totals of this magnitude, but a breakout season from the young forward had always been a possibility. Recently we’ve seen a similar trend of forwards making huge leaps in point totals from one season to the next, such as Mikko Rantanen and Vincent Trocheck. Rantanen went from 38 points to 84 points while Vincent Trocheck (who’s the best comparable to Lindholm) went from 54 points as a 23-year-old to 75 points in the following season.

But besides underlying talent, this is also the first time Lindholm is getting the opportunity to play on an elite first line. With no offence to Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho, there are obvious benefits from spending 75 percent of your even-strength ice time next to Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. If those two can make Jiri Hudler a near point-per-game player, it’s no surprise Lindholm’s flourishing in such a conducive environment. He’s getting the most ice time he’s ever seen and is being relied upon by Calgary to be a main contributor to their offense.

Positioned on the first power-play unit with Gaudreau, Monahan, Mark Giordano and Matthew Tkachuk, Lindholm has already set a new career high in power-play points (and the season isn’t even half over). Even if Lindholm’s even-strength scoring were to slow down, we can expect him to maintain a scoring pace higher than anything he ever set in Carolina purely from his production on the power play. His 11 power-play points are tied for the 10th most by any forward so far in the season.

The only concern we should have about Lindholm keeping up this pace is from his individual shooting percentage. A 15.5% shooting percentage would be high for almost any skater, much less a forward who’s career average shooting percentage is below 9%. I wouldn’t expect a huge drop (not when playing on such a star-studded line and room for overall improvement by Lindholm) but 15.5% is high for nearly anyone.

This effect is balanced by Lindholm’s significant increase in shot totals though. His high shooting percentage would be a huge red flag if he was shooting at the same rate he was in Carolina, but he’s done a great job of getting more pucks on net this season with the Flames. Compared to the 153 shots he registered last year, Lindholm’s on pace to shatter this total with 224 by the end of the season. This has been a huge plus for his multicategory value too. Even though he doesn’t get any penalty minutes or a large amount of hits (they’ve actually been slightly declining for three years now), his shot totals make him a much more valuable asset. His plus/minus has seen a noticeable uptick too, as he’s in the positive range for the first time in his career.

Overall, look for Lindholm to keep going strong, especially with the stock the Flames have in him. After trading Dougie Hamilton to acquire him and signing him to a new six-year contract extension, he should continue to see favorable offensive deployment. With James Neal underperforming too, the Flames will need all the offensive output they can get out of Lindholm. Expect the goals to be slightly harder to come by in the near future, but look for Lindholm to mostly keep up the torrent pace he’s set this season.

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

Mar 18 - 19:03 MTL vs OTT
Mar 18 - 19:03 WSH vs DET
Mar 18 - 19:03 NYR vs CGY
Mar 18 - 19:03 PIT vs NYI
Mar 18 - 20:03 DAL vs ANA
Mar 18 - 20:03 NSH vs STL
Mar 18 - 20:03 CHI vs SEA
Mar 18 - 21:03 EDM vs UTA
Mar 18 - 22:03 VAN vs WPG

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
BRANDON CARLO TOR
QUINTON BYFIELD L.A
ARTYOM LEVSHUNOV CHI
DYLAN SAMBERG WPG
MACKIE SAMOSKEVICH FLA

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
JET GREAVES CBJ
TRISTAN JARRY PIT
ILYA SOROKIN NYI
MACKENZIE BLACKWOOD COL
JOSEPH WOLL TOR

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency WPG Players
26.9 GABRIEL VILARDI MARK SCHEIFELE KYLE CONNOR
19.3 COLE PERFETTI VLADISLAV NAMESTNIKOV NIKOLAJ EHLERS
19.0 NINO NIEDERREITER ADAM LOWRY MASON APPLETON

DobberHockey Podcasts

Keeping Karlsson: Hellllooooooo, Nyman

On this edition of the Keeping Karlsson Fantasy Hockey Podcast mega-show, Elan and Brian are highlighting the teams with the best and worst fantasy playoff schedules, and the players that are worth adding, holding or dropping as you get to the most crucial moments of your fantasy season.

Fantasy Hockey Life: Trade Deadline Prospect Movers

The trade deadline is past us…were any of the prospects traded fantasy-relevant? Victor and Jesse hit them all to get Victor’s analysis. Covered are:  Shane LaChance, Patrick Giles, Kyle Aucoin, Herman Traff, Brendan Brisson, Justin Brazeau, Marat Khusnutdinov, Calum Ritchie, William Dufour, Nikita Grebenkin, William Zellers, Aku Raty, Chase Stillman, Max Graham, Tristen Robins, Zack […]

Keeping Karlsson Short Shift – Potential Playoff Gems

Jeremy and Shams are here to keep you updated with the recent injury news, including a couple of players who may be out for the remainder of the fantasy season. For the remainder of the show, they cover a group of lesser known players that can help you out in your first week of the fantasy playoffs and possibly more.

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: