Bruins

Why Nikita Zadorov believes Elias Lindholm is due to rebound with Bruins

"He kind of didn't play the role he fits, I feel like. So here I feel like he can come back to the version he was in Calgary."

Elias Lindholm had a season to forget in 2023-24. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

July 9, 2024

The Bruins handed Elias Lindholm a seven-year, $54.25 million contract last week with the hope that the 29-year-old forward anchors Boston’s top line for the foreseeable future.

The Swedish center has long held court as one of the more established two-way forwards in the NHL — posting 50-plus points in four of his 11 NHL campaigns while finishing second in voting for the Selke Trophy in 2021-22.

But Boston’s decision to allocate a hefty portion of its cap space this summer for Lindholm does present a few questions — most of which revolve around Lindholm’s standing as a true 1C for a contending team.

Despite Lindholm’s reputation as a 200-foot contributor, the poised forward didn’t exactly enter the offseason with his stock soaring.

After averaging 32 goals and 73 points over his final two full seasons in Calgary (2021-23), Lindholm was limited to just 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists) over 75 games with both the Flames and Canucks during the 2023-24 season.

Granted, he did rebound in the playoffs for Vancouver (10 points in 13 postseason games), while his 56.4 faceoff percentage all year marked a new career-high.

But the Bruins are not paying Lindholm nearly $8 million per year for him to be a 45-point player next to David Pastrnak.

Count Nikita Zadorov as one of those expecting a bounce-back season for Lindholm in Boston.

Zadorov has played with Lindholm in both Calgary and Vancouver before both signed with the Bruins on July 1, with the 6-foot-6 defenseman witnessing firsthand Lindhom’s ability to drive play when handed top-line minutes.

But as Zadorov noted on Monday at Warrior Ice Arena, Lindholm wasn’t always put in the best position to thrive after getting traded to the Canucks in late January.

“We’ve been together the past three teams. He’s a great teammate, a great player,” Zadorov said of Lindholm. “We’re sitting on the plane together all the time and talking a lot, a lot of dinners. So it definitely helps when your friend signs with the same team as well. I’m excited for him.

“It’s a new opportunity for him. Obviously he had a couple different years. After we were good in Calgary, we didn’t make playoffs last year and then he got traded to Vancouver. He kind of didn’t play the role he fits, I feel like. So here I feel like he can come back to the version he was in Calgary with the top line and top penalty kill and everything. He’s a really good addition and I’m really excited to have him on my team, for sure.”

After navigating through trade rumors for most of the first three months of the 2023-24 season with Calgary, Lindholm was largely a square peg placed into a round hole with the Canucks.

A top-six center for most of his career, Lindholm was shifted to the wing and even some reps as third-line center with Vancouver — with both Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller occupying the top-two pivot spots on the depth chart.

“Going into season like that, you’re kind of uncertain with what’s going to happen,” Lindholm said of his struggles last season. “And then you kind of know, after a little bit that you’re gonna get traded — but you don’t know when or where and so on.

“So it definitely affected me more than I was hoping. But I’m glad now that time is over. And now I know for a long time where I’m going to be and so on.”

Don Sweeney already tabbed Lindholm as a top-line fixture for Boston in 2024-25 next to Pastrnak, while also stressing that his role as the bumper on the Bruins’ top power-play unit should also boost his production.

While it might be asking a lot for Lindholm to replicate the 42-goal, 82-point season he submitted with Calgary in 2021-22 (skating on a potent top line with Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau), a featured role next to Pastrnak should allow Lindholm to regain his form as a 60-point stalwart in his new home with Boston.

“He doesn’t feel like he played as well as he was capable, and then went to Vancouver and played really well in the playoffs,” Sweeney said of Lindholm’s past season. “This is a better opportunity for him to go and play with who we think is an elite player in a top-line role. And the bumper on the power play is a really good fit for us and, ideally, for him. … He talked a little bit about the anxiety of being a pending unrestricted free agent (last season).

“It’s a natural thing, I think, as a player to say, ‘Okay, who may be interested and where do I fit? So, I think we checked those boxes in our conversation in short period of time as long as we were reinforcing that in his mind. I think they may align, and that’s why he joined our club.”