Card Of The Week: Elias Lindholm "Makes It Clap"

              "It's not sho friends, it's show business"

                                                              -Bob Sugar-
                                                             "Jerry" Maguire
 
      It was exactly one year to the day that the new regime of the Carolina Hurricanes led by new General Manager Don Waddell shocked the Draft floor in Dallas Texas. By sending 3rd year defenseman Noah Hanifin, and under-performing forward Elias Lindholm to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Michael Ferland, Dougie Hamilton and the rights to unsigned draft pick Adam Fox. It was that trade that shook up a rather quiet draft weekend, and also reunited Lindholm and Hanifin with their former coach Bill Peters. The trade also enraged legions of fans who were wanting to see what Elias Lindholm could do with the maturing Sebastian Aho, and draft pick Andrei Svechnikov.

  Ignoring the fact that Lindholm went 28 games between goals before scoring the game winner in the season finale against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Not to mention they were a reported 2 years and 1 million dollars annually apart in contract talks. Waddell pulled the trigger and sent the underachieving former 5th pick overall north of the border. Lindholm quickly signed with Calgary and had a career year with 78 points on 27 goals and 51 assists. Critics of Lindholm are quick to point out that playing on a line with Johnny Gaudreau is bound to give anyone a boost in their numbers, and he would of never reached those numbers in Carolina. A sentiment I tend to agree with based on past performance with an identical roster.

    However, this is not meant to be a recap of the trade nor a debate about trade winners and losers. This is about his homecoming to Raleigh on that fateful day in early February 2019. Before the "Bunch of Jerks" non-sense influenced by Don Cherry, Elias Lindholm made himself persona non grata to many Hurricanes fans when he mimicked the beloved, albeit ridiculous "skol clap" The Hurricanes adopted from the Minnesota Vikings as an intro to the post game victory celebrations.

His mockery was not without just provocation as he was roundly booed along with Bill Peters, Derek Ryan, and Noah Hanifin when they were acknowledged by beloved Arena announcer Wade Minter before the start of game 1. The three players were equally booed when each of them found the back of their net helping to spoil their homecoming as Calgary cruised to a 4-3 win.

What makes this whole situation funny to me is the fact he is not hated in Raleigh for his on ice performance that fateful February afternoon, but for the fact he mocked his former team.NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders once said "If you don't want me to dance keep me from scoring.", and that is where the Canes failed. So instead of villifying Lindholm and wishing him harm next time he is at the PNC, lets just hope the Canes do not give him a reason to upset fans who may be a little over-sensitive about a celebration. It made me laugh and in some ways added a little fire, and gave me a reason to look forward to a normally dull cross-conference matchup. Besides I don't think the players were upset or offended as I watched them from the autograph line shoot the bull with Hanifin and Lindholm post game while Calgary boarded the teams bus.

As for the Card the 2013-2014 The Cup Rookie Autograph Series #/25 Booklet provides a beautiful reminder of a time when Lindholm was expected to be the next star and not a local Pariah. Thanks for reading and Redvolution!


The Caniac Collector