The Bruins have long been a not-so-secret admirer of Elias Lindholm. Given the chance to finally get their shot in, they weren’t going to miss it.

Boston’s offseason spending spree focused on the Swedish center. The Bruins spent a whopping $54.25 million to be paid out over the next seven years.

Your hope? Lindholm is the latest in a line of two-way centers who are making a difference and anchoring a Bruins team in all three zones.

B’s fans will see Lindholm for the first time on Tuesday night in Florida, a fitting place to begin his Black and Gold career. No team has sparked more difficult discussions in the Bruins’ building over the past two seasons. The division rivals have made it a spring rite of passage to see off the B’s. The recent win proved to be a boost of speed on the way to Florida’s first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Trying to fill that void made Lindholm attractive to the B’s, even though that story ultimately begins in 2013. Ahead of this draft, Sweeney said they were excited about Lindholm, a player they believed had similar traits to Patrice Bergeron. They weren’t alone. The Hurricanes selected Lindholm with the No. 5 pick in the draft — 55 picks before the Bruins made their first pick.

He finished in the top 10 of Selke Trophy voting three times during his career. That includes 2021-22 in Calgary, when he finished second… behind Bergeron.

As the 2024 trade deadline approached, the Bruins’ reported interest in trading for Lindholm wasn’t surprising, especially in hindsight.

“To tell you the truth, it was kind of a two-year quest, and I might wonder later if he would ever make it in free agency,” Sweeney admitted on the first day of free agency after finally reeling in his big fish had. “I had chances at the deadline to maybe get in there, but they didn’t necessarily materialize, and when that was presented we were very happy.”

A quick look at Lindholm’s hockey card might not fully explain the desire to sign the soon-to-be 30-year-old. Last season he only scored 15 goals and 29 assists. His minus-14 rating was his worst in the last eight seasons. But much like Bergeron or even David Krejci, a lot of Lindholm’s value comes down to things that can’t be quantified.

Given the opportunity and the need to reflect on their roster, the Bruins discovered they lacked depth at the center position, a predictable conclusion a year after Bergeron and Krejci retired. In their place, Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha exceeded expectations, but could not keep up with their predecessors. Lindholm may not fill those gaps either, but his all-around game will make it easier for everyone around him to reach their potential.

Lindholm was just one of three forwards in the NHL last season to log more than 200 minutes of power play time and more than 170 minutes of shorthanded time. Take it one step further. Since the start of 2018, 86 strikers have played at least 7,000 minutes. Lindholm is one of only three forwards to average two minutes of power play time and two minutes of shorthanded time per game during that span.

“His 200-foot game is remarkable,” Bruins president Cam Neely said at a Sept. 30 press conference. “I don’t want to put him in the Patrice category, but he is, you know, Patrice-like.”

Like Bergeron, the hope is that Lindholm can lighten everyone else’s load. His hidden abilities were meant to make those around him better. His skills make him an amorphous power play activist. It thrives in both the bumper and the side. Montgomery talked about his faceoff skills, which improved the power play but should lead to more possession on the ice regardless of the situation. Just take last year as an example. Only seven players in the NHL have conceded more draws than Charlie Coyle. The veteran won 51.6% of these face-offs, quite a good rate.

Now, however, many of those faceoffs are being awarded to Lindholm (who drew more than 1,300 last season). Lindholm won 57.2% of his draws last season. If Coyle’s faceoff workload had simply been transferred to Lindholm and he had won at the same rate, he would have won 64 more faceoffs than Coyle. That may not seem like a big number, but that’s 64 more possessions to either keep the puck in the attacking zone and set up the offense or get the puck out of harm’s way in the defensive zone.

His 200-foot game is remarkable. …He’s, you know, Patrice-like.

Cam Neely

Lindholm’s critics will argue that his production does not justify the contract. They will argue that he hasn’t been the same player since 2021-22, when he scored a career-high 42 goals alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk.

It’s easy to draw a direct connection between these linemates and increased production, but it’s important to note that he will place Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak at the center of Boston’s top line. Only Auston Matthews has scored more goals (109) than Pastrnak (108) over the last two seasons. Zacha has achieved the highest score in his career. It’s more than fair to assume that Lindholm’s production will see a significant increase, assuming everyone stays healthy.

The Bruins needed to get better this summer, and Lindholm should help them do that. To mention him in the same breath as Bergeron is presumptuous, but they clearly believe he’s the man for the job.