With the injury and subsequent surgery that Charlie McAvoy had this offseason, many players need to step up in his absence. Coming into this season, the Bruins need to get better at generating offense from the back end because their defenseman put up a combined 164 points last season. McAvoy contributed 56 points which is good for over 34% of the points from Bruins defensemen last year. Since Torey Krug left for St. Louis, the Bruins have struggled to get consistent contributions from their back end, making McAvoy mostly irreplaceable.
Starting the year without his playmaking ability is going to be difficult. Players like Mike Reilly and Derek Forbort may be relied on to contribute more, and Reilly may be shifted to the powerplay in his absence. With McAvoy out, the spotlight on the Bruins back end turns to Hampus Lindholm. After his acquisition from the Ducks last season, he got paired with McAvoy almost instantly and played great down the stretch. His underlying stats have been shaky recently, and his last few seasons with the Ducks left a lot to be desired. His first five or so seasons with Anaheim were pretty great, with him living up to the pressure of being a sixth-overall pick. Following his success has been regression not only on the score sheet but on his overall effectiveness as a reliable shutdown defenseman.
Now is the time that Lindholm needs to show that he can still be a #1 D-man. In their first two games this season, Lindholm has played well and has 2 points. Lindholm will need to continue logging over 22 minutes a night, as McAvoy’s injury will keep him out until November at the earliest. Another sticking point is the big extension he signed last season, which was controversial, to say the least. Many fans were critical of Sweeney’s choice to sign Lindholm to a long-term deal, especially for $6.5M a year. However, with Charlie out long-term and Grzelcyk still on the mend, it seems as though Lindholm may be just what the Bruins need.
If the Bruins didn’t pick up Lindholm last year, their current defense would be any combination of Carlo, Reilly, Forbort, Clifton, Zboril, and maybe Jack Achan. That is not a competitive D-core in the NHL, but if you insert Lindholm, it doesn’t look half bad. If Lindholm wants to endear himself to Bruins fans, it’s time to show up. He needs to be the effective 2-way D-man that he was during his first few seasons in Anaheim. This, coupled with being a consistent powerplay contributor, should prove that he can be that #1 defenseman when the need arises.
