Lindholm poised to become new No. 1 center in 1st season of 7-year contract
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By Amalie Benjamin
@AmalieBenjamin NHL.com Staff Writer
NHL.com is providing in-depth roster, prospect and fantasy analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Today, the Boston Bruins.
The Boston Bruins have long known that center, once a strength of the organization, was going to be a work in progress heading into their next era. Though they managed with Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha last season as replacements for the retired Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, it wasn't quite enough.
Now it's Elias Lindholm's turn to fill the void.
The Bruins are heading into their next era in 2024-25, after a bridge season that turned out more successful than anticipated. The former Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks center signed a seven-year, $54.25 million contract (average annual value of $7.75 million) with Boston on July 1. Combined with defenseman Nikita Zadorov, Lindholm's teammate with the Canucks and Calgary Flames who signed a six-year, $30 million contract, the Bruins went big in free agency and are hoping they reap the benefits this season and beyond.
Because, ultimately, the Bruins want to keep winning. They want to push further into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, believing that the results they've had since 2019, when they last made it to the Stanley Cup Final, a seven-game loss to the St. Louis Blues, haven't been good enough.
"We've been very competitive," general manager Don Sweeney said. "We haven't had the success we expect to have in the playoffs and these types of players I think should help us in that regard."
The Bruins made it to the 2024 Eastern Conference Second Round, losing to the eventual champion Florida Panthers in six games, after losing in the first round the previous two seasons.
It was better, but as always, aspirations remain grander than that.
Still, the Bruins had always known that last season was going to be an in-between year, a "passing of the torch" as Sweeney put it at his end-of-season press conference.
Elias Lindholm talks with the NHL Tonight crew
So, while Lindholm is not Bergeron, having an approximation of the player, a center who can fit on the first line, act as the bumper on the power play, win face-offs and be defensively capable, is huge for a team that was not quite deep enough in the playoffs.
"Way back in the draft, we identified Elias as a player that has a lot of Bergeron qualities," Sweeney said. "It's kind of been a two-year pursuit, to tell you the truth, wondering maybe if down the road if he would ever get to free agency."
Once he did, it seemed the perfect solution, for both sides.
"I think it's a good fit," Lindholm said. "Playing in the League for a long time, I tried to look at Bergeron as much as possible. I don't want to compare myself or anything like that, but I think I can bring a little bit of what he did and obviously try to come there and bring my game and come back to the player I know I can be and hopefully help this team to achieve a Stanley Cup."
Even with Lindholm and Zadorov in hand, the Bruins still have one huge task on their to-do list: sign Jeremy Swayman. The goalie is a restricted free agent and needs to be locked down after goalie partner Linus Ullmark was traded to the Ottawa Senators on June 24.
Swayman himself will have a major impact on the Bruins' 2024-25 season. The 1A/1B tandem with Ullmark is gone, which puts Swayman alone in the driver's seat, backed up by either Joonas Korpisalo or Brandon Bussi. He will almost certainly set a new NHL career high for starts, passing the 43 he made last season.
The 25-year-old earned that right in the playoffs, when he had a 2.15 goals-against average and .933 save percentage in 12 games after going 25-10-8 with a 2.53 GAA and .916 save percentage in 44 regular-season games.
Ultimately, there remain questions about the Bruins. They are not a finished product. There are holes, most notably at second-line right wing with the departure of Jake DeBrusk to the Canucks in free agency and the Bruins counting on a prospect, likely Fabian Lysell or Georgii Merkulov, to grab hold of the spot.
But there's no doubt that they made moves they feel can bring them into their next era, moves that solidify the most important positions on the ice and can potentially help them make it deeper into the postseason.
That's the goal, at least.
