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.