The Boston Bruins are getting good play out of Elias Lindholm, and for the first time in a while, he is feeling like himself.
Lindholm started this season skating on the first line alongside David Pastrnak and JJ Peterka. When Marco Sturm threw the forward lines into a blender, Lindholm slid down to 3C with Casey Mittelstadt and James Hagens to his wing. The move worked. Since the line change, the Bruins have not lost, and Lindholm has five points (2-3–5). He has seven on the season (3-4–7), the fourth most on the team.
It’s not just the production. Lindholm is also feeling better physically, something that has not always been the case during his time in Boston.
“No, it feels good,” Lindholm said to reporters in Anaheim after the game on Friday. “I think it’s the first time in a long time [where] my body feels good. For quite some time it’s been always something, I feel like. So my body feels great. It feels good.”
At the end of last season, Lindholm revealed that a recurring back injury dampened the second half of his 2025-26 season. It was an issue that appeared during his first season with the Bruins, and Lindholm said that after an injection, “it worked good” early last season.
The injuries were only part of the problem. Lindholm did not reach the 50-point mark during either of his first two seasons in Boston. The Bruins brought him in to help fill the hole created by Patrice Bergeron’s retirement, but in May, Cam Neely admitted the team still does not have a true No. 1 center.
Oh, and his $7.75 million AAV has only added to the criticism.
“There’s always been, I feel like, a target on his back since he signed here… maybe because of money,” Sturm said of Lindholm after practice on Monday. “I always saw him a little different. More like he’s doing right now. Not about points, just playing the right way. And when you need him, he’s there.”
“He’s doing his job, and I think maybe a few more people notice it now,” Sturm added. “We know in the room, guys know, coaches, we all know how important he is, and maybe he shows a little bit more than he usually [does], but at the end of the day, he’s the same guy.”
Through the first nine games, Lindholm’s ice time has been down compared to last season. He is averaging 16:20 per game, down from 17:53 last season. His power-play time has also come down from 2:45 to 2:03, although Sturm reunited the old first unit ahead of the win streak. His role on the penalty kill has grown from an average of 58 seconds per night to two minutes.
Lindholm has won 60% of his faceoffs (102 of 170) through the first nine games, and his 102 faceoff wins are the most in the league (as of 6:00 PM ET on Monday).
“It’s always nice to win faceoffs. It’s kind of what I’m trying to be good at, and help our team start with the puck on PK, on the power play, and so on,” Lindholm said on Friday. “So try to bear down as much as possible.”
His results have gone beyond the faceoff dot and point production. The new-look third line with Mittelstadt and Hagens has outscored opponents 2-1 at 5-on-5. They have owned 60% of the scoring chances (24-16) and 55.56% of high-danger chances (10-8), according to Natural Stat Trick.
Lindholm’s current role may not be the one the Bruins envisioned for him when they put pen to paper on July 1, 2024, but so far, it’s the one that is working for both sides.
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