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Team Sweden Announces 2025 World Championship Roster

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Team Sweden has announced their roster for the upcoming 2025 IIHF World Championships. The ’Tre Konor’ will look to finish higher than third place in the international tournament for the first time since 2018.

The team will look similar to the one Sweden brought to the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. Filip Forsberg, Lucas Raymond, and Mika Zibanejad will reprise their roles as Sweden’s top forwards, while Rasmus Andersson and Jonas Brodin will lead the defensive core.

Unfortunately, the team will be without forward William Eklund for the tournament due to offseason wrist surgery. Sweden is expected to announce Eklund’s replacement in the coming days. The rest of Team Sweden’s roster is as follows:

F Mikael Backlund (Flames)
F Anton Bengtsson (Rögle BK)
F Leo Carlsson (Ducks)
F Christoffer Ehn (Linköping HC)
F Filip Forsberg (Predators)
F Max Friberg (Frölunda HC)
F Jesper Frödén (ZSC Lions)
F Marcus Johansson (Wild)
F Elias Lindholm (Bruins)
F Isac Lundeström (Ducks)
F Lucas Raymond (Red Wings)
F Alexander Wennberg (Sharks)
F Mika Zibanejad (Rangers)

D Rasmus Andersson (Flames)
D Jonas Brodin (Wild)
D Gabriel Carlsson (EV Zug)
D Simon Edvinsson (Red Wings)
D Adam Larsson (Kraken)
D Marcus Pettersson (Canucks)

G Samuel Ersson (Flyers)
G Jacob Markström (Devils)
G Arvid Söderblom (Blackhawks)

Morning Notes: Marner, Stars, Buium, Lindholm

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The Toronto Maple Leafs were without star winger Mitch Marner at Sunday morning’s practice, as Marner attends to the birth of his first child. He isn’t expected to miss any time, helped along by Toronto’s second round matchup against the Florida Panthers beginning at home on Monday. Marner finally broke through the 100-point glass ceiling this season, scoring a career-high 102 points in 81 games played. He also recorded just 14 penalty minutes – a career-low. Those marks have carried into the postseason, with Marner netting one goal, eight points, and no penalties in six games of the first round. He is notably just under two months away from hitting the open market, unless Toronto can manage an eight-figure contract extension before July 1st. Marner is performing at a top mark at the perfect time – but he’ll have to hold onto the scoring role if Toronto wants to get by a Panthers lineup that averaged the fifth-most goals-per-game in the first round.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Dallas Stars head coach told the media on Sunday that it is still unlikely Jason Robertson or Miro Heiskanen are ready for the start of the second round, per Lia Assimakopoulos of Dallas News. DeBoer did share a glimmer of hope, though, adding that both players should be good to go at some point during round two. The Stars lineup will undeniably improve when they receive their top goal-scorer and top defender back from prolonged injury – an exciting thought to consider after they beat the Colorado Avalanche in a seven-game series. Robertson and Heiskanen – who both have returned to skating at optional practices – will have at least four more games to work their way back into the lineup.
  • Star prospect Zeev Buium only appeared in four games before the Minnesota Wild were eliminated from playoff contention. He performed well in those appearances, netting one assist and four penalty minutes from a depth role, and now faces the a transitional summer as he moves from college to the NHL full-time. Buium hasn’t shared too many details of what the summer will look like, but he did announce that he’ll join Team USA at the World Championship, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. Buium represented his country at the World U18 Championshp in 2023 – netting six points in seven games – and at each of the last two World Juniors – where he combined for 11 points in 14 games. Now, he’ll get to join the Americans at the top flight – stepping onto a blue-line full of young-and-upcoming defensive talent. Buium will fight for a role over Mason Lohrei, Jackson LaCombe, and Michael Kesselring.
  • Speaking of Worlds, the Boston Bruins have shared that centerman Elias Lindholm will join the Team Sweden roster immediately. Lindholm hasn’t played at this tournament since 2019, when he scored six points in eight games. That was Lindholm’s third-consecutive season joining the Swedes at the World Championship. Across the trio of years, he combined for 19 points in 26 games. Lindholm’s only opportunity to represent Sweden since 2020 came earlier this year, when he participated in three games of the 4-Nations Face-Off and managed no scoring. Lindholm totaled 47 points in 82 games of the NHL season, his lowest scoring pace since he recorded 21 points in 58 games as a rookie.

Atlantic Notes: Lindholm, Roy, McCabe, Ekman-Larsson, Puljujärvi

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Bruins center Elias Lindholm dealt with a back injury throughout his first season in Boston, he revealed to reporters at today’s exit meetings (via Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub). He sustained it in August, and it’s what caused him to miss most of training camp before playing all 82 games for the Bruins. It should offer some explanation for his continued offensive struggles, posting 17-30–47 for a 0.57 points per game rate after signing a massive seven-year, $54.25MM deal with Boston in free agency. This year marked Lindholm’s second straight campaign with less than 20 goals after he potted 42 for the Flames in 2021-22. He remains one of the league’s better faceoff-takers with a 55.2% win rate on nearly 1,400 draws, but that alone doesn’t justify his $7.75MM cap hit without increased offensive production. Boston will hope for a rebound next year to aid in their retooling.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Canadiens prospect Joshua Roy won’t be on their playoff roster, at least to start. The team announced that they’ve sent him to AHL Laval, which is on the verge of clinching the AHL’s regular-season title and is set to begin a playoff run themselves. The 21-year-old winger had been on Montreal’s roster since March 10 but was a healthy scratch in their final 11 games as they successfully chased a wild-card berth. A 2021 fifth-round pick, Roy ends his second NHL season with just two goals and a minus-six rating in 12 appearances. He’s been a continued first-line threat in Laval, where he scored 20-15–35 in 46 games before his most recent call-up.
  • The Maple Leafs expect defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jake McCabe to be available for Game 1 of their first-round series against the Senators on Sunday, head coach Craig Berube said today (via David Alter of The Hockey News). Neither will dress in tonight’s season finale against the Red Wings. OEL will end up missing the final four games of the season with an upper-body injury, while McCabe will miss a seventh straight game with an undisclosed injury. Both have been invaluable pieces of Toronto’s blue line in 2024-25, averaging north of 21 minutes per game with some of the best two-way metrics on the team.
  • Panthers winger Jesse Puljujärvi was sent to AHL Charlotte yesterday ahead of the playoffs, but he won’t be available immediately if Florida decides to recall him during the postseason. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced they’ve suspended him for two games for an illegal check to the head of Lightning winger Mitchell Chaffee in Tuesday night’s game. It’s the first supplemental discipline of Puljujärvi’s eight-year career.

Bruins Could Turn To Trade Market For Spark

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The Boston Bruins have finally acknowledged how underwhelming their season has been, becoming the first team to fire a head coach this season when they let go all-time single-season wins record holder Jim Montgomery. Associate coach and penalty-kill expert Joe Sacco has been promoted in his place. That move is likely to bring a wave of defense to a Bruins lineup that’s tied for the third-most goals-against this season. But general manager Don Sweeney isn’t waiting around for hypotheticals, with The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reporting that the team is simultaneously exploring the trade market for a potential spark.

LeBrun said Sweeney isn’t beating around the bush, directly calling out the poor play of new additions like Elias Lindholm – who Boston signed a seven-year, $54.25MM contract with Boston this summer. He’s followed that deal with just two goals and nine points through Boston’s first 20 games. That’s miles away from the production of the true top-line center that Lindholm was signed to be, and his rank of third on the team in scoring underlines just how bad the offense has been. LeBrun, not Sweeney, also pointed to the struggles of goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who leads the league in goals-against (47) in just 14 games. That equates to an .884 save percentage and 3.47 goals-against-average – perhaps the very last thing Boston expected when they went through rounds of contract negotiations during training camp.

The woes continue with Sweeney’s other gut calls. Defender Nikita Zadorov only has five assists in 20 games – and leads the league in penalty minutes (46) – and forward Max Jones hasn’t scored once in four appearances. It’s not all bad for the lineup – in fact, the breakout of bottom-six fixtures like Justin Brazeau, Cole Koepke, and Mark Kastelic would cause celebration anywhere else – but it’s clear that the team is completely missing their engine. They’ve done little to restock the cupboards since Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci stepped down from their posts, instead casting a wide net for depth forwards and hoping for the best.

Should Boston pursue a trade, it’d almost certainly be for a high-impact, top-six forward. Where they’ll find a team willing to part with a major piece is less clear. Seattle Kraken centerman Yanni Gourde has popped up in early trade rumors, though his seven points in 20 games wouldn’t bring the spark Boston needs. Gourde did score 25 goals and 64 points on the 2017-18 Tampa Bay Lightning, and has hit 48 points three times since – though he’s failed to pass the half-century mark. The Bruins have been leaning into grit and physicality amid their struggles, evident by their recent call-ups – both pieces that Gourde brings in abundance.

But Gourde won’t carry Boston’s top-line, still leaving a glaring hole in what was supposed to be Lindholm’s role. That may necessitate a more brazen trade, like attempting to acquire hard-nosed Nashville Predators center Thomas Novak, who’s missed a handful of games to injury this season and only posted four points in the 14 games he has played. That’s far below the 18 goals and 45 points Novak posted last season, which was itself an improvement on 43 points the year before. Novak has been square in the middle of a Predators’ middle-six that simply isn’t working – but his gritty style and finishing ability would both be heralded by this Bruins club.

If Don Sweeney is truly looking to push all his chips in, he could also target former superstar prospect Shane Wright, who’s been healthy scratched in Seattle’s last two games after scoring just two points in 18 games this season. Wright has yet to find it out at the top level, now standing at nine points through 34 career games – contrary to his 60 points in 71 total AHL games last season. Wright’s talent has never been questioned, but his fit in Seattle is starting to look quickly uncomfortable. For the right price – likely a hefty package with plenty of draft capital – Boston could try to steal away the 20-year-old burgeoning star, and put him in a far better spot to succeed between David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand.

So early into the season, it’s hard to gauge which top forwards could actually be pried away from their lineup. The Bruins will wait to see how things go under Sacco before making any large moves. But a strong array of centermen should await Don Sweeney on the trade market, with the limiting factor being Boston’s wallet – and underbaked assets – more than the options ahead of them. They’ll have to push the boundaries of the budget to pull out of a difficult 8-9-3 start to the year.

Atlantic Notes: Knies, Marchand, Lindholm, Zub, Jones

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The choice by Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube to make forward Matthew Knies an alternate captain for the team on Saturday night has led some to believe the organization is looking to keep him around for the long haul. In Monday’s ’32 Thoughts episode with Elliotte Friedman, the host said, “I think (Matthew) Knies is on the precipice of being a really long-term important piece of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’s heading into the last year of his ELC and I think there have been some conversations about it. I don’t know how much or in-depth they have really talked about it, but there have been some rumors that there have been some conversations“.

It’s not a shocking report by any stretch of the imagination as Knies has been a top prospect for the Maple Leafs over the past several years. The former 57th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft finally became a full-time player in Toronto last season scoring 15 goals and 35 points in 80 games. He’s a popular candidate to play the wing with captain Auston Matthews and on the Maple Leafs’ second powerplay unit.

There haven’t been any specifics regarding extension conversations between Toronto and Knies but Elliotte’s report indicates the team would like to lock him down for quite some time. The team may want to get started on that sooner rather than later as Knies’ asking price will inevitably rise if he plays well on a line with Matthews for much of the year.

Other Atlantic notes:

  • According to the team, the Boston Bruins are improving on the injury front as forwards Brad Marchand and Elias Lindholm will return to the lineup tonight against the Flyers. Marchand had been recovering from several surgeries in the offseason and is making good on his promise that he would be ready for the regular season opener. Lindholm has spent the last few days practicing in a non-contact jersey for the Bruins with an undisclosed injury but it appears his ailment is now behind him.
  • Similarly to the Bruins, the Ottawa Senators are also receiving positive news on the injury front with defenseman Artem Zub returning to the lineup this evening (X Link). Zub’s been dealing with a lower-body injury for much of the preseason but it appears he will be ready for the regular season barring any setbacks. The Russian defenseman will now have three games to get back to game speed as he’s failed to appear in a contest up to this point.
  • Moving back to Boston — Conor Ryan of The Boston Globe reports forward Max Jones is getting closer to returning to the lineup. Jones is another Bruins forward that has failed to appear in a preseason contest but he should be ready for the regular season. Boston signed Jones this summer after being non-tendered by the Anaheim Ducks to serve in the team’s bottom-six. He’s coming off one of his better offensive seasons with the Ducks scoring five goals and 15 points in 52 games last year.

East Notes: Laine, Lindholm, Brink, Othmann

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Canadiens fans are still waiting with bated breath for news about top offseason acquisition Patrik Laine. The winger left last night’s preseason loss to the Maple Leafs in the first period after he was on the receiving end of a knee-on-knee collision with Toronto AHL depth piece Cédric Paré, preventing him from skating off under his own power (via The Athletic’s Arpon Basu).

It certainly didn’t look good for Laine, whose left knee bent awkwardly during the hit and laid on the ice for several minutes before being helped off. Paré, who inked his first NHL deal with the Maple Leafs in July, isn’t yet facing supplemental discipline. He also wasn’t penalized on the play.

Laine was visibly angry while heading back to the Montreal room, an understandable reaction for a player who desperately needed a healthy season. The 26-year-old was limited to 18 games with the Blue Jackets last season with a collarbone fracture and a lengthy stint in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, recording six goals and three assists for nine points with a -10 rating. Montreal acquired the 2016 second-overall pick from Columbus last month, sending depth defenseman Jordan Harris the other way.

There’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Bruins center Elias Lindholm is back practicing in a non-contact jersey today, The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa reports. He’s been day-to-day with an undisclosed injury since Tuesday and hasn’t played in any preseason action thus far. It’s a good sign the 29-year-old will be ready for opening night. He’s still on track to begin the season as Boston’s No. 1 center, anchoring a line between David Pastrňák and Pavel Zacha. He inked a seven-year, $54.25MM deal with the Bruins this summer after posting 44 points in 75 games for the Flames and Canucks last season.
  • Bobby Brink is trending toward cracking the Flyers’ opening night roster for the second year in a row, writes The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz. Brink, 23, was solid in a middle-six role last year, posting 11 goals and 23 points in 57 games. But he spent some time in the minors as well, and his path to ice time in Philly this year became a bit murkier after 2023 seventh overall pick Matvei Michkov came over from Russia and signed his entry-level contract. He’ll still need to “earn his ice time,” Kurz writes, but Brink has drawn praise from head coach John Tortorella with his strong camp performance and will challenge for a third-line role at right wing after signing a two-year, $3MM deal this summer.
  • Rangers prospect Brennan Othmann’s chances of cracking the roster appear slim after he skated with a group of players mostly ticketed for the AHL on Sunday, relays The Athletic’s Arthur Staple. Othmann, 21, went pointless in three NHL games last season – his first in the majors. The 2021 first-round pick was great in his first pro showing with AHL Hartford last season, though, posting 49 points in 67 games and earning a spot in the league’s All-Star Game. He’ll get a few more NHL looks in 2024-25 even if he’s not up with the Rangers to start.

Atlantic Notes: Lysell, Lindholm, Jones, Ullmark

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Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery gave a rare public call-out today to one of the team’s young prospects. Scott McLaughlin of The Skate Pod shared a quote from Montgomery regarding forward Fabian Lysell saying, “he needs to do a little more than he’s done if he wants to make the Bruins“.

Lysell skated in 14:56 of the Bruins’ preseason loss on Sunday to the New York Rangers. The 21-year-old Swede played right wing for Boston on the team’s third line and didn’t find his name on the scoresheet as he failed to even put a shot on goal. The former 21st overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft is looking to crack the Bruins’ roster this season after totaling 110 regular season games for the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins.

He’s been productive in the AHL with 29 goals and 87 points over two years in Providence. The major factor working against Lysell is that Boston is again one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference heading into the 2024-25 NHL season and the top-six of their forward core is largely set in stone. Lysell doesn’t have much flexibility to his game meaning the Bruins don’t have the confidence to plug him into the team’s bottom six.

Other Atlantic notes:

  • A few new members of the Bruins are nursing mild injuries with Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub reporting that forwards Elias Lindholm and Max Jones are both day-to-day this week and likely won’t play. Lindholm signed a long-term seven-year $54.25MM contract with Boston this summer and is expected to take over first-line minutes for the team down the middle with Pavel Zacha being moved to the wing. Jones joined the Bruins on a two-year, $2MM pact after being non-tendered by the Anaheim Ducks and is expected to be a physical player Boston can plug into their bottom six.
  • Former Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark is dealing with an ailment but he’s not expected to be out long-term. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen reports the Ottawa Senators are being cautious with their new netminder but he is “going to be fine”. The Senators are eager for Ullmark to fill a major void on the roster this season as the 2022-23 Vezina Trophy winner posted a .924 SV% in 130 games for Boston from 2021-2024.

Snapshots: Lindholm, Maple Leafs, Austria

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One of the free agents that the Canucks lost in free agency this summer is center Elias Lindholm.  Acquired early in the season from Calgary, the veteran ultimately inked a seven-year, $54.25MM contract with Boston.  In an interview with Hockeysverige’s Ronnie Ronnkvist, GM Patrik Allvin indicated that Vancouver tried to keep the 29-year-old but ultimately couldn’t afford to bring him back.  Lindholm is coming off a down season that saw him notch just 44 points in 75 games (after putting up 64 and 82 points in the prior two years) but given the high demand and low supply of centers, he was able to land another long-term agreement at a considerable raise.  Ultimately, Vancouver elected to fill Lindholm’s salary slot with a pair of former Boston wingers in Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen.

More from around the hockey world:

  • While the Maple Leafs shook up parts of their roster this summer – particularly on the back end – there was no big change among their core group. GM Brad Treliving defended that decision in an appearance on TSN 1050 (audio link), stating that “I know sometimes people fall in love with ’let’s make a big change just to make a big change. But at the end of the day, you can go out and make big changes, if they’re not making your team better, to me it doesn’t make any sense.”  While no major trade was made, Toronto did add Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the back end and with Mitch Marner and John Tavares now on expiring contracts, they’ll have the cap flexibility to make a big change if they want to next summer.
  • Austria’s roster for the upcoming Olympic Qualifying Tournament was announced There are no active NHL players on it with Marco Rossi taking a pass to focus on preparing for training camp next month.  However, a pair of top NHL prospects are on the roster, Canadiens blueliner David Reinbacher (fifth overall in 2023) and Red Wings forward Marco Kasper (eighth overall in 2022).

Summer Synopsis: Boston Bruins

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The Boston Bruins have had a lot of regular-season success over the past few years, but it hasn’t translated into a lengthy playoff run. They’ve managed to stay in contention despite a bevy of on-ice personnel losses and re-tooled this summer, signing some lucrative long-term contracts with top-tier free agents. With an aging core that knows how to win, Boston has elected to run it back again over the next few seasons and should be formidable when the puck drops on the regular season this fall.

Draft

1-25: C Dean Letourneau, St. Andrews College (High-ON)
4-110: D Elliott Groenewold,  Cedar Rapids (USHL)
5-154: C Jonathan Morello, St. Michaels (OJHL)
6-186: D Loke Johansson, AIK Jr. (Sweden-Jr.)

The Bruins didn’t have much of an opportunity to re-stock the prospect cupboards at this year’s NHL entry draft, however, they did manage to snag a first-round pick in the Linus Ullmark trade which they promptly used to draft the towering Letourneau. The Ottawa Valley native played prep school hockey in Ontario this past season and led St. Andrew’s with 61 goals and 66 assists in 56 games. Scouts sometimes have difficulty assessing prep school hockey players relative to their peers. Still, given Letourneau’s size and length, it was hard for the Bruins to pass on a player who looks like a prototypical Boston player.

Boston selected the 18-year-old Groenewold in the fourth round of the draft after he appeared in 57 games for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the USHL last season. The 200-pound, 6-foot-2 defenseman is committed to Quinnipiac University for next season and will look to continue developing his game as a defensive defenseman. Groenewold is a player who could give Boston a real defensive presence on their back end, as he is effective at clearing the area around his crease and is known to win puck battles in the defensive zone.

A fifth-round pick. Morello was a point-a-game player in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (57 points in 50 games). However, his playoffs were different, as he tallied 12 goals and nine assists in 11 games. Some scouts believe he could be just scratching the surface, while others wonder if he has an NHL role. Boston likely views Morello as a project, but given his solid skating and size, he was worth a roll of the dice in the fifth round.

Trade Acquisitions

F Mark Kastelic (Ottawa)
G Joonas Korpisalo (Ottawa)
C Vinni Lettieri (Minnesota)

Boston had to move on from Ullmark this summer but was likely hoping to avoid taking back a lousy goalie contract, precisely what they did. Boston acquired Korpisalo for Ullmark but did get him at a reduced rate for the next four seasons ($3MM AAV), which could be an okay contract if the 30-year-old can return to the form he showed during the 2022-23 season. Korpisalo has always been a talented netminder and a great athlete, however, he’s never been able to maintain consistency through a long stretch which is why he’s out of Ottawa one year into a five-year deal.

Boston also received Kastelic in the Ullmark trade. The 6’4” forward could be a solid fourth-line contributor for Boston going forward but shouldn’t be someone they count on for offense. Kastelic has been effective in the faceoff circle during his short NHL career (56.3%) and has no issue finishing his checks. He’s also very sound defensively, using his frame and reach to disrupt the opponents’ offensive sequences. With all that being said, Kastelic has primarily been a non-factor offensively throughout his NHL career and even last season, he ranked 323rd among NHL forwards who played more than 200 minutes at 5v5.

Lettieri struggled through injuries and inconsistency last season in Minnesota and could be a bounce-back candidate in Boston. He can skate and has a good set of hands, but his confidence appeared shattered with the Wild, and he spent a good chunk of last year in the AHL. If Boston can insulate him, they might be able to get more of him next year. However, they might also see an opportunity to have him start the season in Providence to try and get him on the right track.

UFA Signings

F Max Jones (two-year, $2MM)
F Cole Koepke (one-year, $775K)*
F Elias Lindholm (seven-year, $54.25MM)
D Jordan Oesterle (two-year, $1.55MM)*
D Billy Sweezey (two-year, $1.55MM)*
F Riley Tufte (one-year, $775K)*
F Jeffrey Viel (two year, $1.55MM)*
D Nikita Zadorov (six-year, $30MM)

* denotes a two-way contract

Boston’s two big moves in the free agent market were Lindholm and Zadorov, but they also added some depth with the Jones signing. Boston recognized they had a hole down the middle, which Lindholm should be able to fill going forward. Lindholm’s two-way play should give the Bruins a big boost and allow them to move Pavel Zacha back to the wing and provide better balance to their top 6. He should be able to find a way to make Boston’s forward group better both offensively and defensively and elevate his talented linemates in the process.

Zadorov has been around the NHL for a long time and struggled to find stability for most of it. However, once he found a consistent role, he became a physical presence that could clear the crease and take care of business in the defensive zone. Zadorov has problems when he overplays the puck or gets lost in the defensive zone. Boston will likely have the 29-year-old paired with Charlie McAvoy, which means Zadorov can defer most of the puck-carrying to his partner. However, he will be defensively in many precarious positions when McAvoy takes chances.

RFA Re-Signings

G Brandon Bussi (one-year, $775K)*
D Michael Callahan (one-year, $775K)*
C Marc McLaughlin (one-year, $775K)*
D Ian Mitchell ((one-year, $775K)*)*
D Alec Regula (one-year, $775K)*

* denotes a two-way contract

Boston’s biggest RFA signing has yet to happen but should occur in the not-too-distant future, as Jeremy Swayman is clearly Boston’s goalie of the future. Most of Boston’s work in the RFA market was locking down depth pieces, which may or may not factor into the NHL roster this season.

Bussi figures to at least challenge for the Bruins’ backup goaltender position, which is unlikely to be handed to Korpisalo given his struggles last season. Bussi is a solid young netminder who might require more seasoning in the AHL but does forecast as an NHL backup. He is of good size and aggressive in the net, but he can be guilty of overcommitting to shooters and likely needs to figure out how to rein that in before he finds full-time NHL duties.

Mitchell remains an intriguing option for the Bruins on the back end. He is an excellent skater and gets around the ice quickly. He also controls the puck well and has a great pass. The downside for Mitchell is that he is undersized and does get beat in a lot of puck battles. He also loses battles in front of the net, which can lead to some nightmares in the defensive zone.

Departures

F Joey Abate (unsigned UFA)
F Jesper Boqvist (Florida, one-year, $775K)
F Jake DeBrusk (Vancouver, seven-year, $38.5MM)
D Derek Forbort (Vancouver, one-year, $1.5MM)
D Matt Grzelcyk (Pittsburgh, one-year, $2.75MM)
F Danton Heinen (Vancouver, two-year, $4.5MM)
G Kyle Keyser (signed in KHL)
F Jakub Lauko (traded to Minnesota)
F Milan Lucic (unsigned UFA)
F Pat Maroon (Chicago, one-year, $1.3MM)
C Jayson Megna (signed in AHL Colorado)
D Dan Renouf (signed in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
F Anthony Richard (Philadelphia, two-year, $1.55MM)*
D Kevin Shattenkirk (unsigned UFA)
C Oskar Steen (signed in Sweden)
G Linus Ullmark (traded to Ottawa)
F James van Riemsdyk (unsigned UFA)
D Reilly Walsh (Los Angeles, one-year, $775K)*
F Daniel Winnik (retired)

* denotes a two-way contract

Boston’s departures were essentially depth players who had either signed short-term deals recently or had been drafted or signed out of college and didn’t factor into the Bruins’ future. That being said, the departures of DeBrusk and Ullmark are sure to be felt this season, especially if Lindholm starts slow or Swayman struggles in the full-time starter role.

On the backend, Forbort and Grzelcyk struggled last season and needed a blank slate in another uniform, which should open the door for new faces to take up roles on the blue line. Zadorov will fill Grzelcyk’s old role, and depending on Mitchell’s development, he could also take up a spot on Boston’s defense. Boston’s defense core remains strong, and given the poor play of both Forbort and Grzelcyk last season, their departures shouldn’t be much of a loss.

Where Boston could feel the pinch is the loss of some of their depth scoring, mainly Heinen, DeBrusk and van Riemsdyk, who all contributed offensively last season and outperformed their cap hits. Heinen notched 17 goals and 19 assists last season in 74 games while playing for the league minimum of $775K, while JVR made $1MM for putting up 38 points in 71 games. DeBrusk played on a $4MM cap hit last year and had a disappointing regular season with just 19 goals and 21 assists in 80 games. However, he elevated his game in the playoffs, tallying 11 points in 13 games to lead the Bruins in postseason scoring. That kind of cheap depth scoring is hard to come by, and it could come back to bite Boston this season if their top two lines go on any cold streak.

Salary Cap Outlook

The Bruins are entering August with just over $8.6MM in projected cap space which looks like a luxury at this late stage of the summer, however, Boston’s most pressing issue remains as they’ve yet to lock up starting goaltender Jeremy Swayman. Boston spent liberally this summer on the free agent market, but it shouldn’t prohibit them from retaining their core in the future. Boston has most of its critical pieces locked up aside from Brad Marchand (and Swayman), who will be a UFA next summer. The Bruins likely looked at their aging roster and long-term contract structure and saw their position as an opportunity to load up without worrying too much about future cap issues.

Key Questions

Can Swayman Be A Full-Time Starter? Swayman has proven over the last few seasons that he is a very talented netminder. However, he has done so while being complimented by another goaltender who is among the best in the league at the position. Now, with Ullmark in Ottawa, the net is Swayman’s, and it will be interesting to see if he can maintain his incredible numbers in the future, especially now that he’s the bonafide number-one goalie. The 25-year-old played in a career-high 44 games last season for Boston, and while his numbers did dip a little bit, he was still rock solid for the Bruins. With Ullmark gone, it is conceivable that the Anchorage, Alaska native will play somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60 games, which will undoubtedly test his endurance and durability.

Will The New Pieces Fit? Boston shelled out a lot of money for Lindholm and Zadorov, and there is no guarantee that they will fit despite their extensive body of work in the NHL. Lindholm wasn’t a perfect fit in Vancouver and struggled at times after the trade from Calgary. Zadorov has bounced around the NHL during his career before finding stability in Calgary. Both players are certainly upgrades for the Bruins, but they come with some risk. Boston gambled that they are the right fit, and it will undoubtedly make for a compelling storyline if either player has a slow start after signing lucrative free-agent deals.

Can Charlie Coyle Replicate Last Season’s Success?  Coyle had a career-high 60 points last season, but he isn’t that far removed from a 16-point campaign with the Boston Bruins during the shortened 2020-21 season. Two years before that, Coyle had just two goals and four assists in 21 games during a shortened 2018-19 season. Coyle has had wild different seasons throughout his career, but last year, he stepped up after the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, which allowed Boston to continue to be a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference. While there is little reason to believe his play will fall off a cliff at 32 years old, there is reason to believe that he could take a step back from the best year of his professional career. As mentioned earlier, Coyle’s numbers have been wildly different from year to year, and if he can’t get back to last year’s numbers, it could be a very different outcome for him next season.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bruins Sign Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov

at CDT | by 13 Comments

The Bruins have made two gigantic free-agent splashes. They’re bringing in center Elias Lindholm on a seven-year contract worth $7.75MM per season, Chris Johnston of The Athletic reports. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov is also signing with Boston, per TSN’s Darren Dreger. He adds it’s a six-year, $5MM AAV deal for Zadorov.

For Lindholm, it appears he didn’t lose too much market value after a difficult season offensively. The 2022 Selke Trophy finalist was likely in line for an eight-year extension valued in the $8MM-$9MM range annually had he signed while with the Flames at the beginning of last season, but with Calgary not headed in the direction of contention, he opted not to stick around long-term.

He then embarked on a difficult regular season split between Calgary and Vancouver thanks to a mid-season blockbuster deal, limited to 15 goals and 44 points in 75 games with a -14 rating. It was his worst showing on the scoresheet since 2017-18 when he was still a 23-year-old developing center with the Hurricanes.

Lindholm did well to rebuild his value in postseason action with the Canucks, though. They took the eventual Western Conference champion Oilers to seven games in Round Two, and Lindholm’s production was a big part of that. Serving in a middle-six center role behind J.T. Miller, Lindholm found his game offensively and scored five goals and five assists in 13 games.

A strong faceoff taker, Lindholm projects to slot into the Bruins’ first-line center spot and be a stylistic replacement for the retired Patrice Bergeron, although he doesn’t have the same skill level at either end compared to the future Hall-of-Fame pivot. $7.75MM per season is a steep price to pay for someone who only offered middle-six production last season, but they’re hoping it’s just a blip. Now 29, Lindholm has averaged 20 minutes per game multiple times in his career and has a lengthy recent history of anchoring strong two-way top lines.

Zadorov is also a bit of a gamble at his price tag. The 6’6″, 250-lb defender had a strong market, though, and few should be surprised at what he landed in the end. The brutish blue liner had a career-high 120 PIMs in 2023-24, coupled with 20 points and an even rating in 74 games while logging 17:26 per contest. Like Lindholm, he split the campaign between the Flames and Canucks, although they each found their way to Vancouver in separate trades.

It’s a significant chunk of change for a player who’s never spent time in a top-four role consistently, but his price tag suggests he’ll be doing that in Boston for the next half-decade. The 29-year-old could very well start next season on Boston’s top pairing alongside Charlie McAvoy as the replacement for Matt Grzelcyk, who departed for the Penguins in free agency today.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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