It's now been two full seasons with the Boston Bruins for Hampus Lindholm since he was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks at the trade deadline in 2022. In those two full seasons, head coach Jim Montgomery has got two different seasons from his left-shot defenseman.
He was a big part of the Bruins record-setting 2022-23 season where he blew away his career highs in assists with 43 to go along with 10 goals and a simply ridiculous plus/minus of plus-49. He did everything that year for the Black and Gold and was arguably their best and most consistent blueliner. He took over as the leader of the defense at the beginning of the season when Charlie McAvoy began the season recovering from off-season surgery. This past season, it was a different Lindholm, and makes you wonder what they are going to get going forward.
After a terrific first full season in Boston, the sixth overall pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft was a different player at times this season. He finished the season with 23 assists and 26 points in the regular season while missing some time in February when he suffered an injury in a home game against the Dallas Stars. There were times this season when he didn't look right, but he still went out and was durable playing in 73 regular-season games.
In the playoffs, if there was one player who you could say had an up-and-down 13 games, Lindholm would have been at the top of the list. In the first round against the Toronto Maple Leafs, it was Lindholm. In Game 7, he played his best game of the series and played a big part in the Bruins. winning that game, 2-1. He tied the game just minutes after Toronto took a 1-0 third-period lead with a wrist shot from a tough angle.
In overtime when he set up David Pastrnak for the series-winning goal. He hit the red line early in overtime and placed a perfect dump-in pass into the Maple Leafs' zone and the Black and Gold's leading goal-scorer beat everyone to the puck and beat Ilya Samsonov with a backhander to send Boston to the second round.
In the second round against the Panthers where the Bruins lost in six tough games, he failed to register a point and was a plus/minus plus-1.
One day after the Bruins acquired Lindholm from the Ducks, he agreed to an extension for eight years with an AAV of $6.5 million. There is no doubt that he's going to be a part of the team going forward and a key piece to the left side of their defense and likely mentoring Mason Lohrei. When he's healthy and playing at his best, you see what a player he can be and he's a difference-maker at both ends of the ice as he was in 2022-23. The Bruins need that type of player going forward.
