Dr_Invictus
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 2,278
Likes: 878
Your point was that he wasn't worth a first, which is incorrect. He absolutely is worth a 1st and more. His GSVA was 31st of all centers at 2.20 (Backlund was actually higher at. 2.40). Barzal was 2.0 even and is the 1C on NYI. I would agree that it makes little sense to trade him there. But having two 1Cs on your team didn't get them into the playoffs either. Lindholm can play the wing as well, so it not like he has to slot in at 3C, and having stall as your 3C in the glory days didn't hurt the Pens.
The defensive regression for Lindholm a GSVA was also considerably higher than Malkin, Crosby, and Horvat (0.40 vs -4, -2, -5.9, respectively). A considerable drop for all of those players this year, but Lindholm fell the least.