Bruins Training Camp Report: Why Hampus Lindholm might be the most important player on the Bruins roster this fall

When it comes to pitching a pro athlete on the appeal of playing in a market like Boston, the usual talking points revolve around a passionate fanbase, a livable city, etc.

The weather — especially when the calendar flips to November/December — doesn’t usually stand as a selling point for a player who is setting their roots down in the New England area.

And considering that Hampus Lindholm’s previous stop in his pro career was nine years alongside the shoreline in Orange County, the 28-year-old blueliner’s embrace of the inevitable frosty climate does seem a bit puzzling.

Perhaps that winter chill just serves as a comforting reminder of home for the Swedish product. Or maybe the B’s top deadline pickup last March is just a fan of the local cuisine. 

"It's going to be great,” Lindholm said of settling down in Boston for the next eight years. "That's something that I missed in California. Get to see the leaves fall off the trees. Have myself a few lobster rolls, maybe."

It’s encouraging to hear that Lindholm isn’t one to shirk at the thought of harsh weather blanketing the Commonwealth for weeks on end. 

But for Lindholm, the most turbulent stretch in his first full season in a Bruins sweater might present itself in the fall — considering the weight of a battered, patchwork D corps is poised to fall on his shoulders in the near future.

“30 minutes a night if needed?,” one reporter posed to Lindholm during his latest media scrum.

“I won’t complain about that,” Lindholm replied with a smile. 

His years at the top of the depth chart in California have certainly braced Lindholm for a hefty workload, having averaged over 22 minutes of ice time per game in every season since the 2015-16 campaign. 

And with both Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk expected to be on the shelf for at least the first month-plus of the new campaign due to offseason surgery, Lindholm’s reps are going to be even more demanding in the early going, with the B’s top-pair D standing as one of the few bastions amid a shorthanded defensive unit in October and November. 

"It's a position I've been in kind of my whole career,” Lindholm said. “I'm fortunate that I've played big minutes in Anaheim and take responsibility — so it's nothing new and any time we can have (McAvoy) in the lineup, we're a better team. So hopefully he gets back here soon, but we got a lot of good guys in this locker room that can step it up."

When Boston acquired Lindholm from Anaheim in exchange for three draft picks, Urho Vaakanainen and John Moore, the established blueliner checked off plenty of boxes in terms of what the B’s were in search for on defense — be it his ability to log heavy minutes, aid in Boston’s fleet-footed transition game or inject tangible offense by way of his booming slap shot and crisp feeds. 

But in the grand scheme of things, Lindholm was viewed as the complementary (but still much-needed) piece on a top pairing already anchored by a regular Norris Trophy contender in McAvoy, with the B’s tilting the ice decisively in their favor whenever that duo was on the ice together last season (Boston outscored teams, 12-3, in McAvoy + Lindholm’s 131:22 of 5v5 ice time last season). 

The true test for Lindholm will come now that the keys to the B’s blue line will be handed to him in the short term, with Brandon Carlo standing as the likely next man up on Boston’s top pairing. And even though melding Lindholm’s two-way, minutes-eating game with Carlo’s stay-at-home mindset would seem to stand as a more-than-suitable stopgap partnership while McAvoy remains on the mend, the early returns last season weren’t all that encouraging. 

In total, during the 20:25 of 5v5 ice time that Lindholm and Carlo logged together last season, the Bruins were outscored, 2-0, and out-chanced, 27-9. Pretty disheartening numbers for a D pair that also had 71.4 percent of its faceoffs in the offensive zone during that 20:25. 

It was a  small sample size, no doubt. But those numbers essentially forced Bruce Cassidy to scrap a balanced top-four configuration of Grzelcyk-McAvoy / Lindholm-Carlo, opting instead to keep Lindholm with McAvoy and roll out a super pairing against the opposition.

The Bruins won’t have that same luxury this season, at least not until McAvoy is eventually cleared to play once again. But after only appearing in 14 total games (both regular-season and playoff action) last year with the Bruins, Lindholm is looking forward to a clean slate — and isn’t putting much stock into any of the numbers outside of his reps with McAvoy.

“I think just coming over here, East Coast hockey is a little different. I think personally, it fits me,” Lindholm said. “I'm really excited about the coming years here. I think I'm really going to be able to show my true self and what kind of player I can be and think the team we have this year, I think it's just gonna be an exciting year. 

“We got some really good players here. I think you can learn a lot from all the guys in this locker room and with a new coach, I think it's just excitement all over around the team.”

(Lindholm’s arrival made a sizable impact on Boston’s ability to generate offense, especially from the blue line. Consistently drawing more tangible production from its D corps stands as one of Boston’s top priorities this season, but in the short term, the B’s are going to need Lindholm to be the pillar that helps keep the B’s stingy zone defense humming along.)

Lindholm might not be in the same tier as a player like McAvoy (who, granted, likely only has players like Cale Makar, Roman Josi and Victor Hedman ranked above him in terms of top D-men). But make no mistake, Lindholm still functioned as a dependable, top-pairing presence during his limited time in Boston so far. And the B's are going to need him to continue to keep this grouping afloat throughout those turbulent months in October and November. 

“If you want to be a winning team, you need everyone to contribute and I think that's something that kind of comes easy,” Lindholm said. “I think I'm a guy that leads more with the way I'm playing and I think I'm just excited about the start of the season.”

CAMP REPORT

BRUINS LINES 

GROUP A

Forwards

Zacha-Bergeron-Lysell
Hall-Studnicka-McLaughlin
Greer-Coyle-Steen
Frederic-Merkulov-Steen
Tralmarks-Poitras-Brazeau

Defense (Multiple blueliners shifted across various pairings, so not a whole lot of consistency here):

Carlo
Lindholm
Ahcan
Forbort
Zboril
Wolff
Wissmann
Berglund
Edward

Goalies:

Swayman
Bussi
Kinkaid 

GROUP B 

Lauko-Krejci-Pastrnak
Foligno-Beecher-DeBrusk
Abate-Nosek-Litteri
Hall-Asselin-Voyer
Greenway-Toporowski-Wagner

Defense:

Reilly
Clifton
Mast
Brunet
Wilson
Callahan
Carrick
Renouf
Diddier

Goalies: 

Ullmark
Keyser
Brassard

TALKING POINTS

Lysell skates with Bergeron

On Wednesday, Jim Montgomery acknowledged that the Bruins were likely going to shuffle up their lineup throughout camp in an effort to incorporate younger players around established veterans. As such, it didn’t come as much of a surprise that Fabian Lysell earned most of his reps on Thursday with Patrice Bergeron and Pavel Zacha on Boston’s “first line”. 

Of course, given Montgomery’s previous comments regarding Boston’s lineup composition, it’s safe to assume that the B’s current plans will eventually center on a top-six grouping of Zacha-Bergeron-DeBrusk / Hall-Krejci-Pastrnak. 

But even if Lysell doesn’t break camp on the NHL roster (especially on one of Boston’s top-two lines), the 19-year-old winger’s training-camp reps with Bergeron should allow Montgomery and Co. to assess just how the blue-chip prospect can fare in offensive situations around a talented supporting cast. 

"I think it's important that you give players you think that have the potential to play in those spots the opportunity to play in those spots,” Montgomery said of Lysell’s early look with Bergeron. “Because if we put them with fourth-line players, maybe you don't get to see what they can do as far as making plays.”

———

Grzelcyk making progress in return from shoulder surgery 

Matt Grzelcyk still has no set timeline in terms of his return to the ice, but considering where he was just a few months ago — the results are night and day when it comes to playing to his strengths back out on the frozen sheet. 

"I think my range of motion has gotten a little bit better now,” Grzelcyk said Thursday at Warrior Ice Arena. “Obviously been working on a lot. And just little things like sleeping, waking up in the morning — it's not as stiff. It's kind of been a long few months to end the year last year. So just happy to feel a bit more like myself. Still have kind of a long way to go. But the light is at the end of the tunnel.”

Grzelcyk, who was issued a five-month recovery timeline after undergoing surgery to repair a torn-up shoulder back in May, could be back in the B’s lineup by the end of October — ahead of fellow injured B’s skaters in McAvoy and Marchand by at least a couple of weeks.

Grzelcyk has already been working on his conditioning and skating for a few weeks now, while Monday stood as his first opportunity to begin shooting pucks, the first true test of the fortitude of that repaired shoulder. 

It’s been a trying year for Grzelcyk, who first suffered the shoulder injury back in January after getting trucked into the boards by Winnipeg’s Pierre-Luc Dubois. Grzelcyk said that he knew right away that surgery was likely needed to repair his shoulder, but still played through through the final five months of the 2021-22 campaign — to varying degrees of success. 

"It was tough,” Grzelcyk said of battling through injury. “But we're going for it — it seems like every year. You'd do anything to be on the ice. Just unfortunate that you kind of feel like you're not able to give everything you can sometimes. But the medical staff did a great job of not only getting me to a good place physically, but mentally as well. Giving me some goals to hit along the way and making sure that I'm staying in the good mindframe mentally and can't thank them enough for sure.”

While Grzelcyk noted that he has already had some early discussions with both Montgomery and assistant coach John Gruden when it comes to generating more offense out of the blue line, the Charlestown native also added that he’s chatted with the B’s new bench boss about ways to evade danger and painful situations in game settings – a necessity for a smaller D-man like Grzelcyk who has suffered his fair share of bumps and bruises over the years. 

"I met with Monty a couple of times. Just kind of showing me — pick and choose my battles a little bit,” Grzelcyk said. “You always want to to compete, but at the same time, you have to be smart about things, too. So just knowing when to jump in the corner at the right time or when to take a hit to make a play. That's what you've always been taught as a kid. So that will never change. But there are definitely some areas that you can just be more mindful of going back on pucks. I think that's kind of when it happened. I put myself in a bad position. So I definitely have some learning to do.”

———

B’s unveil new jersey patch 

The Bruins joined the rest of the NHL in revealing their new jersey patch sponsor this week, with the team announcing a multi-year partnership with Rapid7 — a Boston-headquartered cybersecurity company. 

“The real estate on our Original Six sweater is sacred space,” said Cam Neely in a team release. “As a former player who proudly wore the Spoked-B, it was important to me and our organization that we identified the right partner with a connection to Boston and a strong commitment to enacting positive change in our community. Rapid7 embodies these important values and we are proud to welcome them to the Boston Bruins family.”

Considering that ads on jerseys were going to eventually be an inevitable avenue for sports franchises to take in order to maximize revenue streams, it doesn’t make much sense to get embroiled in the discourse regarding if the Bruins should have agreed to get these patches stamped onto their sweaters.

All things considered, the simple black-and-white logo isn’t all that distracting — and sure is better than some of the other … colorful logos that are taking up plenty of real estate on other Original-Six sweaters. 

It is what it is.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Some impressive offensive skill on display during 2v2 drills, with Charlie Coyle snapping a puck past Jeremy Swayman and obliterating the water bottle nestled atop the B’s net. 

• Eduards Tralmaks closed out the 2v2 session with Group A with a nifty forehand-backhand-forehand maneuver for a sweet tally.
• During battle drills, Connor Clifton welcomed Johnny Beecher to the NHL ranks with a stout knockdown nearly the net front. Beecher is a big body, but he won’t be afforded nearly as much space in Grade-A ice against pro competition. 
• A bit of a scary sight in Group B when Mike Callahan took a tumble near the boards and toppled Jakub Lauko, who gingerly got back up off the ice. Thankfully, the B’s winger seemed okay after stretching near the bench. 

UP NEXT

Training camp continues Friday morning — with Group B practice set to commence at 10 a.m.