By: Tom Calautti | Follow me on Twitter/X @TCalauttis
Let’s face it, Elias Lindholm is the most polarizing member of the Boston Bruins. That’s bound to happen when you sign a seven-year, $7.75 million contract in free agency and come billed as the team’s first-line center. But things haven’t worked out exactly the way Lindholm, or the Black and Gold, had hoped.
There was plenty of excitement and expectations after the 2013 fifth-overall pick decided to take his talents to Boston in the summer of 2024. The Bruins were coming off a surprising playoff run to the Eastern Conference semi-finals. They looked to improve their roster in a big way, adding both Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov to an already playoff-caliber roster.
We all know what happened next. Lindholm suffered a back injury in August of 2024, which put him behind the eight-ball for the rest of the season. The Bruins stumbled out of the gate, eventually firing head coach Jim Montgomery, and finished the season with most of their core roster pieces traded away and a spot in the draft lottery. The Olympian would go on to finish his first season in Boston with a mediocre 17-30-47 across 82 games.
The 2025-26 season got off to a promising start, with Lindholm declaring a clean bill of health ahead of training camp. But that ship sailed quickly: he suffered a lower-body injury in October that sidelined him for three weeks, then another injury a few games before the Olympic break that hampered him for the rest of the season. He would finish the 2025-26 season playing in 69 games and posting 17-31-48, a significant upgrade over the prior season’s points-per-game numbers (.70 per game vs. .57 per game) but still woefully short of expectations.
Things came to a head this offseason when General Manager Don Sweeney directly addressed Lindholm’s underwhelming production. When asked about why the numbers haven’t been there, Sweeney said, “He hasn’t been offensively as productive; that’s not his fault…He hasn’t missed seasons as a result; it’s just (the injuries have) nagged on him…It just might be that this is what his new level is.”
The notion that Lindholm may be altered long-term by the nature of his injuries is scary. First, you worry about the player, his health, and his well-being. You factor in the contract and commitment the organization has made, and the situation becomes uncomfortable.
I think we’ve reached a point where we can admit the Elias Lindholm deal will never be categorized as a ‘good’ contract. I don’t see the day when he’s called a true number one center. But I do believe Lindholm still has value on this team and in this locker room.
If, and it’s a planet-sized if, Lindholm can stay close to 100 percent healthy and be available for the Bruins, I think he can still be an asset to the team. That may not be the most popular take, but the numbers show that when he’s at his best, the Bruins are a better hockey team.
During the 2025-26 season, I already mentioned that Lindholm suffered two injuries: one in late October and another in late January. Between those two injuries, there was a 31-game span (November 23, 2025 – January 27, 2026) when the 31-year-old was (hypothetically) healthy. During those 31 games, Lindholm posted 7-21-28, a plus-3 rating, and a faceoff percentage of 53. Of those 28 points, 18 came at even strength, and ten came on the power play, where he notched 2-8-10.
Again, I want to stress that the numbers aren’t jump-off-the-page great, and may not justify the contract, but they were good enough for the Bruins to win hockey games. Before Lindholm returned to the lineup, Boston was 13-11 and just starting to overcome their dreadful start to the season.
Once he rejoined the lineup fully healthy, the Bruins rattled off an 18-11-3 record over the aforementioned 31 games and propelled themselves firmly into the playoff picture. During that time, the team’s power play was an impressive 22 for 79, a 28 percent success rate.
Obviously, many factors contributed to the team’s success over that stretch, but it’s clear that Lindholm being healthy made a massive difference in the Bruins playing their best hockey. Even if he isn’t the point-producing dynamo people hoped he would be, he won his faceoffs, was a big factor on the man advantage, and helped the team win games.
We may never reach a point where fans can be totally satisfied with Elias Lindholm’s performance, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be an asset to his team. He may not be a top center and may never live up to his contract, but when he’s healthy, he can be an asset to this organization.
So where does this leave us? Unfortunately, it puts the Boston Bruins in the uncomfortable position of having to make the best of a bad situation. At this point, they should be focused on managing Lindholm going forward and finding ways to maximize his abilities. If that means decreasing his icetime and making his matchups more favorable, that’s fine with me. If it means making him a glorified third-line center with ample special teams time, that works as well.
All I know for sure is that the Bruins are stuck with Lindholm and his contract for the foreseeable future, so there’s no sense in doing anything but trying to make the best of it. The organization’s best course of action is to keep him healthy, play to his strengths, and let him be the player he is, not the one they want him to be.
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