BRIGHTON – They say the NHL is a copycat league in terms of other hockey teams modeling themselves after the Stanley Cup winner.
That’s a good thing when a team plays the kind of hardnosed, attacking style that the Florida Panthers employed the last couple of postseasons, and it’s a good thing for the Boston Bruins as it seems like they are taking pages right out of that Panthers blueprint. It is very clear that the B’s had a plan to get bigger, stronger, heavier and meaner with the ample salary cap space they were holding on July 1, and they used it to bring in players that are going to substantially plug roster holes while filling a couple of big-time needs.
The prologue to bulking up on July 1 was last weekend’s NHL Draft where the B’s didn’t select a player shorter than a towering 6-foot-3, but the main attraction in free agency was hauling in 6-foot-6 defensive bruiser Nikita Zadorov and 6-foot-4 forward Max Jones along with 6-foot-5 Avs forward Riley Tufte. It was about getting bigger, stronger, heavier and meaner for the playoffs while adding to what they already do well in the regular season, and in doing so attacking other teams on the forecheck after they’d been under siege by Florida over the last few years.
Zadorov in video form. He’s a punisher… pic.twitter.com/79IXW3Rbks
— Tony Massarotti (@TonyMassarotti) July 1, 2024
“I’ve always wished I was a little bigger,” said a smiling Don Sweeney after logging over 1,000 NHL games as a truly undersized defenseman in an era where they really didn’t exist. “You know, that wasn't our intention [to get bigger].
“We've always wanted our pace, ability to arrive on time on the forecheck, we certainly had an eye towards that, possessing the puck, and the byproduct was that we found guys that do that and they happen to be a little bit bigger. But there was never staying away from small skill if that’s what you're referring to, because these guys all have the skill, they just come in a bigger package and they all skate.
“Max [Jones] has been an intriguing player, not just because of where he was drafted, but the size of the player, the ability to forecheck, the ability to possess pucks. He's shown a willingness to get to the net. Can he finish a little bit more if he's pushed up the lineup and play with guys, that's what we're going to find out in terms of Max? But he just plays both sides, the possession game that Monty [Jim Montgomery] wants to have, created a little more anxiety, to tell you the truth, with arriving on time on the forecheck is a big part of the identification of several of these players.”
The other big part of the equation was bringing in a frontline, No. 1 center that could allow Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha to slide into more comfortable spots in the lineup, and they did that with the anticipated seven-year contract for 29-year-old Elias Lindholm that’s going to pay him $7.75 million per season. It was obvious come playoff time that the Bruins needed more down the middle whether it was winning big draws, carrying the puck up the ice quickly or doing battle with other center studs like Sasha Barkov, and Lindholm is going to factor heavily into all of those departments for Boston for the foreseeable future.
As Sweeney said at Monday’s post-free agency, it was “kind of a two-year pursuit” for the B’s with Lindholm after trying to trade for him dating back to a year ago when Boston was heavily linked to players like Lindholm and Mark Scheifele while watching Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci ride off into the sunset.
“Way back in the [2013 NHL] Draft, we identified Elias [Lindholm] as a player that has a lot of [Patrice] Bergeron qualities,” said Sweeney. “Kudos to our scouting staff for following these guys and watching the growth of Zadorov and also acknowledging where Elias [Lindholm] remains in his career and bringing the attributes he does. It’s kind of been a two-year pursuit to tell you the truth, wondering maybe down the road, if he would ever get to free agency. [We] had chances at the deadline to maybe get in there, but it didn’t necessarily materialize, so when this was presented, we were very happy.
“At the end of the day, you get into a playoff environment, you start to realize [the importance of] depth at that position, and a guy [like Lindholm] that…he's only played top-line role situations, you know, and now he's got a chance to go play with [David Pastrnak]. Like he might have had with [Johnny Gaudreau] and [Matthew Tkachuk] and [big offensive] production. I think the bumper spot in our powerplay, you know, is an area that [Elias Lindholm] is going to fit in seamlessly in that regard, and he wins his drawers, so you start to realize like there's a little bit of ‘Okay, that's a little bit of what we had what we missed [with Bergeron and David Krejci retired].’
It makes all the sense in the world as Lindholm definitely does some Bergeron-like things as a center that wins draws, plays a 200-foot game and can slide into the Bruins power play at the bumper position, and, as Sweeney mentioned, could be playing with the kind of talent on his wings (David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha) that saw him top 40 goals and 80 points while playing with Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk in Calgary a couple of seasons ago.
It all adds up to a player who should be a difference-maker and is certainly being paid to be a difference-maker.
“Do I think we should have gotten to a Game Seven [against the Panthers] and we'll see what happens? Yeah, I do,” said Sweeney. “I think we left [some things] on the table in Game 4 and Game 6. I’m hopeful that these two players, you know, tip that scale in our direction moving forward because of [what we identified as needs], as I referenced, with Elias [having] been in those top spots.
“I can't tell you whether or not he would have done a better job [with Lindholm] against [Aleksander Barkov] than Charlie, and we pushed Zacha to the wing and [Morgan Geekie] went in there. I just think [maybe the new players can help] when we were looking for that extra play, that extra goal, that we would describe to get us over the edge.”
That’s really the bottom line is that the Bruins hope that a hard-hitting, intimidating defenseman like Zadorov and a workhorse top center like Lindholm can be impact, difference-makers for a Black and Gold group that’s already very strong in many areas. And adding ferocious big bodies like Jones and Mark Kastelic who are ready to punish will help push the Bruins a little more in the model of the punishing Florida team that overwhelmed opponents during the postseason.
It comes at a cost, however, as fast-moving, quick free agents like Jake DeBrusk (Vancouver, 7 years), Danton Heinen (Vancouver, 2 years), Jesper Boqvist (Florida, 1 year) and Matt Grzelcyk (Pittsburgh, 1 year) have moved on with the July 1 open of free agency as well, and left the B’s a little light in the offense and speed departments, particularly on the wing, as they begin preparing for next season.
But the bottom line is that the Bruins have more than enough to be a strong playoff team in the Eastern Conference again next season, and they’ve added legit playoff weapons on the first day of NHL free agency. That’s mission accomplished for the B’s with the salary cap space they had to spend on July 1 with most of the remaining cap space earmarked for a Jeremy Swayman contract extension that should be the next thing coming down the pipe.