Lindholm, Zadorov primed to fill holes on Bruins roster

BOSTON -- For the past year, there has been a Patrice Bergeron-sized hole in the Boston Bruins.

On Monday, at the start of free agency, the Bruins took a step toward filling that hole, ending a two-year bid to bring center Elias Lindholm to Boston, a player general manager Don Sweeney said “has a lot of Bergeron qualities.”

“It’s kind of been a two-year pursuit, to tell you the truth, wondering maybe if down the road he would ever get to free agency,” Sweeney said.

The Bruins, who had north of $22 million of cap space this season, went big in free agency, signing Lindholm to a seven-year, $54.25 million contract ($7.75 million average annual value) and defenseman Nikita Zadorov to a six-year, $30 million contract ($5 million AAV) in addition to forward Max Jones for two years at $1 million each and five other low-cost signings.

Both Lindholm and Zadorov most recently played for the Vancouver Canucks after being traded from the Calgary Flames in two separate deals.

The Bruins had gone into last season with a make-it-work center corps, starting with Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle. Both did well, having career seasons, but it became clear as they progressed in the season and into the Stanley Cup Playoffs that their center depth was not championship-level. After finishing second in the Atlantic Division and beating the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the Eastern Conference First Round, they lost in six games in the second round to the eventual champion Florida Panthers.

It was a nearly impossible ask for Zacha and Coyle to fill the roles that had been the province of franchise legends for the past 15 seasons, in Bergeron and David Krejci, who both retired in the summer of 2023, and ultimately they couldn’t.

“It’s been a luxury for the organization for so long [with] the players that we’ve had,” Sweeney said. “We felt good about it [last season], but at the end of the day, you get into a playoff environment, you start to realize like depth at that position.

“[Lindholm is] a guy that, he’s only played in a top-line role and situations, now he’s got a chance to go play with [David Pastrnak] like he might have had with [Johnny] Gaudreau and [Matthew] Tkachuk.

“You start to realize there’s a little bit of, OK, that’s a little of what we had and what we missed.”

So, they went out and acquired him.

While the Bruins were happy with Zacha and Coyle, along with rookie Matthew Poitras, Lindholm is a player who has played exclusively in a top-line role, who has proven himself in difficult situations, who has had success at face-offs and as the bumper on the power play, all roles hat Bergeron had filled during his career.

The hope is that Lindholm should get the statistical bump that comes with centering Pastrnak (and potentially Zacha), that he will return to being the player he was in 2021-22, when he had 82 points (42 goals, 40 assists) in 82 games and was plus-61, playing alongside Gaudreau and Tkachuk and finishing second to Bergeron for the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the game.

“I think it’s a good fit,” Lindholm said. “Honestly, playing in the League for a long time and 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, 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.”

His numbers, though, have gone downhill since 2021-22. He had 64 points (22 goals, 42 assists) in 80 games the following season and then 32 points (nine goals, 23 assists) in 49 games with the Flames before being traded to the Canucks last season. With Vancouver, he had 12 points (six goals, six assists) in 26 games before turning it on in the playoffs, scoring 10 points (five goals, five assists) in 13 postseason games.

The Bruins had pursued Lindholm last season as well ahead of the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline. But Boston was not able to land him, with Lindholm instead being traded from the Flames to the Canucks on Feb. 1 for Andrei Kuzmenko, a first-round pick and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, along with two prospects.

It was not an easy time for him. And his production reflected that.

“Yeah. Definitely did,” Lindholm said. “Going into the season like that, kind of uncertain what’s going to happen. You kind of know after a little bit that you’re going to get traded but you don’t know when or where and so on.

“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.”

But while center was the Bruins’ top target in free agency, they also came away with a defenseman who seems primed to make an impact, a defenseman who might find a home on their top defensive pairing alongside Charlie McAvoy, and who brings some swagger.

Sweeney said that as defense has always been the strength of the Bruins, he wanted to “continue to make sure we had those foundational pieces in place,” which led him to prioritize Zadorov over a scoring winger, with the Bruins still needing a fit for the right side of their second line.

And Zadorov began by endearing himself to Bruins fans.

“I know in my past teams, people were calling me Big Z. Please do not ever call me Big Z now,” Zadorov said, referencing former Bruins captain and defenseman Zdeno Chara, a role model for him. “I feel like I’m not even close to half of Big Z. He’s unbelievable. He’s one of the best defensemen of all time.”

Zadorov had played against Boston in the second game of his NHL career, scoring his first-career goal against them, and noted all the players on their roster, like Chara, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton. He was intrigued, felt even then, back in 2013, that it would be a good fit.

So when the Bruins made known their interest in him, it was an easy call.

The big, physical defenseman was exactly the kind of player the Bruins have always coveted. The 29-year-old, who is 6-foot-6 and 248 pounds, had 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in 75 games with the Flames and Canucks last season.

“Where do I start why did I choose the Bruins? I mean, everything,” Zadorov said. “The culture in the organization. … I haven’t heard a bad thing in my 11 years about the Bruins culture, Bruins team and the players who played here. Pretty much it was a no brainer for me when we found out the Bruins were interested in me to come and play for them. It was mutual. I think Boston was at the top of my list my whole life.

“I feel like the Bruins style, like I always loved it.”

Which is why both he and Lindholm joked in the past that Boston would be a good place to play together again, a place that would work for both of them, that needed both of them, and that would have a chance to compete with the best in the NHL.

And now that they are signed, they’re hoping to fill that Bergeron-sized hole, that feisty, fearsome-defenseman spot, taking on the roles of players who have thrived in Boston before. All that’s left is for hockey to kick off the 2024-25 season.

“I just want to get started as soon as possible,” Zadorov said.