Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm was only able to play the first five weeks of the season before a fractured kneecap ended his 2024-25 campaign early. He told Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe that he has now fully recovered from that injury and will be fully ready to participate in training camp next month. The 31-year-old has been a steadying presence on the back end for Boston since they acquired him back in 2022 and is only a couple of years removed from a career-best 53-point season. With the Bruins looking to get back into the playoff picture this coming season, having a top-pairing blueliner in Lindholm back in their lineup will certainly help those efforts.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic:
- Maple Leafs winger Calle Jarnkrok missed most of last season after undergoing groin and sports hernia surgeries in mid-November. While he returned down the stretch, he struggled to the point of being scratched at times. The veteran told Gefle Dagblad’s Marcus Hagerborn that he knew when he had the procedures that he wouldn’t be fully healthy for a while upon returning. However, he noted that he has gotten back to that point just recently which is a good sign heading into training camp next month. Jarnkrok has one year left on his contract with a $2.1MM cap charge and a solid, healthy start to next season might make their current efforts to move him a little easier.
- While Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman hasn’t ruled out prospect Axel Sandin-Pellikka from breaking camp with Detroit in a couple of months, MLive’s Ansar Khan suggests that outcome is unlikely. The 20-year-old was a first-round pick back in 2023 (17th overall) and had a strong season in Sweden last year, picking up 12 goals and 17 assists in 46 games with SHL Skelleftea. He also was one of the top scorers at the World Juniors and got his feet wet with five games with AHL Grand Rapids (including playoffs) in the spring. But Detroit tends to favor slow-playing the development of their top prospects, allowing them to work on some things with the Griffins before giving them a real NHL look. Between that and not opening up any spots on the back end this summer, Sandin-Pellikka seems likely to continue that trend.
Detroit tends to favor slow-playing the development of their top prospects even though their NHL roster is bad.
Detroit needs more talent right now, if ASP can bring it he will be on the roster.
While the slow roll is slowly rolling on prospects, the NHL team ages, gets injured, or retires, leaving them near the bottom of the division if not the league in points. Ah, maybe we are just getting impatient. Their last playoff appearance was in 2015-16 and they are on their longest playoff drought in the team’s history, currently standing at 9 seasons missed. Hey at least their last two regular season finishes had a few more wins than losses,