Breaking: The $54.2 million forward contract signed by the Bruins is regarded as one of the worst deals.
Elias Lindholm’s deal with the Boston Bruins is regarded as one of the worst to be awarded in free agency.
Boston signed Elias Lindholm to a seven-year, $54.25 million contract on July 1st, after realizing that they needed to address the center position in free agency. Although Lindholm, who is expected to be the top-line center for the Bruins, earned a big contract, Jacob Punturi of Sports Illustrated counts it as one of the worst agreements made in free agency.
Another instance of overspending on a need is this one. Elias Lindholm has been recognized by the Boston Bruins as their top center option. This past season, they made an attempt to trade for him but were unable to come to an agreement. Putnuri added, “They just needed to wait a few more months to sign him to a massive extension.”
Lindholm signed a seven-year contract for $7.75 million with the Bruins. For a guy who has only had two seasons with 70 points or more in 11 NHL seasons, it’s a significant commitment. Punturi continued, “He’s been a 50-point player in the past, and the Bruins are paying him like Patrice Bergeron.”
Lindholm recently finished a season that he shared between the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames. He scored 44 points in 75 games with 15 goals and 29 assists, which is his career high.
The Bruins are hoping that the Swede can become the player he was in Calgary, especially with a bigger role in Boston, despite his early struggles with the Canucks.
Analyst Predicts Lindholm Will Perform Poorly
Punturi believes that Lindholm’s contract was among the worst granted during the free agency period because of its length and payout amount.
Punturi is aware that Lindholm improves Boston and that he is a reliable NHL center, but the analyst claims they are paying Lindholm to be a No. 1 center, which the expert doesn’t believe he is.
The fact that Lindholm will help the Bruins is undeniable. Though there’s a far greater probability that he plays poorly for the next seven seasons, he may even score 70 points once more, in which case the Bruins will still want a top center.
Per DailyFaceoff.com, Lindholm is expected to be Boston’s first-line center. But still. Putnuri believes that won’t continue and that he will ultimately be dropped to the second line, which would further worsen the terms of the contract.
GM of the Bruins believes Lindholm will improve
Midway through the season, Lindholm was acquired by the Canucks, but he had trouble scoring goals.
In 26 games with Vancouver, Lindholm managed just 6 goals and 6 assists for a total of 12 points. He did, however, begin to improve in the postseason, with 5 goals and 5 assists for 10 points in 13 games.
General manager of the Boston Bruins Don Sweeney said he expects the Swede to be much better than he was in Vancouver after the team was able to sign Lindholm to a multi-year contract.
“He feels that he might have played better, but he went to Vancouver and performed admirably in the postseason. On July 1, Sweeney stated, “This is a better opportunity for him to go and play with who we think is an elite player in a top-line role.” Furthermore, the power play’s bumper is a perfect fit for both him and us. He briefly discussed his fears from the previous season as an impending unrestricted free agent.
“As a player, it seems natural to think, ‘Well, who might be interested and where do I fit in?'” Therefore, I believe that as long as we were reiterating it in his mind, we ticked those boxes in our talk in a brief amount of time. He joined our club because, in my opinion, they may be aligned,” Sweeney continued.
29-year-old Lindholm has been a member of the NHL since the 2013–14 campaign.
