If you were basing it on the Bo Horvat trade you would need someone who is 25 and under with top 6 (if forward), top 4 (if defense) or 1A/1B potential instead of a cap dump like Merrill. It was widely reported that Vancouver was looking to add NHL ready players 25 and under when they were shopping Horvat so despite being dumped a month ago to Chicago, Vancouver valued him quite highly a year ago when acquiring him. So much so that he was instantly elevated to the 1st line once acquired and he played quite well there. You would also need to be trading a pick that is top 15 at the time of the deal or offer a prospect of that value instead.

Okay good job you found the one difference between this trade and the Horvat trade. Multiple NHL writers have reported that the flames would likely need a 1st, prospect, and cap dump for Lindholm, which is exactly what I have. The Wild also currently have a top 15 pick lmao.

It seems like this trade is risky.
However, Minnesota needs to be careful with their cap space, especially when they’re trading and acquiring players on trade deadline 2024.

It's a pretty major difference lmao. That's like at minimum a 2nd round pick in value difference. Lindholm's not even being shopped right now anyways so whoever the writers are that you are referring to are just purely speculating. Also saying "a prospect" is quite a large spectrum. Danil Yurov for example is a prospect, but so is Matvei Guskov. Two completely different calibers of potential

Cgy gets more if Lindholm has an extension/ the team trading for him can talk to him about a contract before the trade goes through

Yurov is pretty untouchable and Guskov is obviously going to stay in Russia for the remainder of his career. Khusnutdinov is a great two way center who is having a quiet season on a bad Sochi team. I picked Khusnutdinov because his play is very similar to Lindholm aside from the fact that he is still obviously developing. Many people project him as a middle six two way center in the NHL.

I fully expect Yurov is untouchable and I don't think Guskov would make the NHL even if he came over to NA. My point was the the potential difference between them is quite large.

I think Khusnutdinov is a fine prospect but his ceiling is more like Backlund than Lindholm. Regardless is is probably viewed as a similar to a bit lower caliber prospect to Raty but not much lower. Nevertheless you are still missing the point in that Beauvillier had value to the Canucks. Vancouver could have just as easily retained more than 25% or taken on Josh Bailey instead but they saw Beauvillier at the time as a valuable asset. Yes they ended up dumping him a month ago but that doesn't change my point.

I think it's also relevant that Vancouver refused to let anyone negotiate an extension with Horvat prior to a trade which ended up hurting the list of potential buyers. I can't imagine Minny would every make a trade for Lindholm unless they knew he was willing to extend and that they could fit him under the cap. I doubt Calgary is going to block their pending UFA's from negotiating extensions with potential buyers. I think this is relevant as it will potentially create more of a bidding war

Khusnutdinov is going to be better than Lindholm in another year or two, so no chance!