BOSTON — The Bruins’ two big offseason signings had down seasons in their first year in Boston. Elias Lindholm was signed to be the No. 1 center and provide scoring, while Nikita Zadorov added another big, physical body to the blue line.
Lindholm got off to a slow start and couldn’t find much chemistry with David Pastrnak until the end of the season. Zadorov, meanwhile, couldn’t stay out of the penalty box and led the NHL with 145 penalty minutes.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney expects better seasons from both players in 2025-26 after their return on investment was vastly below expectations in Year 1.
“He lost confidence in his shooting, in the bumper and our power play was not very effective throughout the course of the season. All players go through the adjustment coming to a new city — those are not excuses,” Sweeney said. “He didn’t offer one single excuse. He didn’t use the injury as an excuse. He still had a reasonable offensive year. It’s not what he had hoped, what we expected. We expect it to be higher.”
Lindholm revealed he dealt with a back injury that sidelined him for most of training camp and some of the preseason that forced him to feel like he was playing catch-up all season. After amassing five points in his first three games, Lindholm went seven games without a point and struggled to find consistency on the ice.
He finished the year with 17 goals and 30 assists with points in six of the Bruins’ last eight games. And once he found a groove with Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie, it showed a glimpse of what Boston expected from the center and what he can bring to the team on a consistent basis.
When it comes to Zadorov, Sweeney admitted the defenseman was “very rambunctious” to begin the year and put himself “behind the eight ball” due to the amount of penalties he was taking.
“If you look at him statistically, at his point totals. Raw statistics we don’t really look at — plus/minus — all that much from the standpoint of performance,” Sweeney said. “But it is an indicator when good things are happening on the ice versus when bad things are happening on the ice. And he led our team in a significant margin there. He stood up for a lot of players. There was a lot of opportunities during the course of the year where other teams tried to exert their will and they had a tough time. So, I don’t think it should be lost on any of us that he brought some of that to the table.”
Sweeney said that Zadorov having several different linemates on the blue line didn’t help the defenseman find consistency.
“He played with every different partner known to man this year that we put on the roster,” Sweeney said. “And that didn’t help him.”
The Bruins defense was also impacted by the loss of Hampus Lindholm due to a knee injury that sidelined him for a majority of the year. Then Charlie McAvoy got injured during the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off. Despite the adversity, Zadorov began to play better particularly after the trade deadline and the loss of Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs. And the improvements that were seen at the end of the season are something Sweeney expects both players to carry over into next year.
“ROI for it, it’s got to go up,” he said. “Ultimately, when we integrate those guys in there, you want immediate impact. But they started to grow into their roles understanding how they’re going to impact our team going forward. And we need to do a better job surrounding them.”
Sweeney is hopeful both players have a good summer of conditioning. With Lindholm set to play in the World Championship, the GM expects him to return healthy and ready to go and make an impact.
