The contracts
Boston Bruins sign forward Elias Lindholm to a seven-year deal with a $7.75 million AAV, and defenseman Nikita Zadorov to a six-year deal with a $5 million AAV
For the longest time, as the Calgary Flames were shopping Elias Lindholm last season, the primary suitor looked as if it would be – or at least it should have been – the Boston Bruins. After all, the Bruins had lost both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to retirement the year before and were trying to cobble together a center-ice corps from among Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha, Morgan Geekie and, until he got injured, Matthew Poitras. It worked … OK, for a while.
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But it was clear, after the Bruins lost in the second round to the Florida Panthers, that it wasn’t good enough. Not when the challenge down the middle is posed by the Florida Panthers’ dynamic duo of Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett. Zacha is better suited to play the wing and, in terms of where they truly fit on a winning NHL roster, Geekie and Coyle need to play further down the lineup.
Accordingly, if the prevailing operating theory today is “better late than never,” then the Bruins finally belatedly did get their man in Lindholm.
Moreover, they got him at a price — for the next seven years, at $7.75 million per season — that was less than what Lindholm reportedly wanted to sign an extension for with the Flames. Lindholm originally was targeting a contract in the $9 million per season range, which – given the underperforming nature of his last regular season – wasn’t going to happen, not even for a club as desperate for help down the middle as Boston.
So, probably Lindholm left money on the table. Happily for the Bruins, they got him at good value. Or they will, if Lindholm can ever add the offensive component back into his game that disappeared after Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau left town.
The presence of David Pastrnak on the Bruins’ roster suggests that’s likely to happen. Lindholm salvaged a mediocre regular season, divided between the Flames and Canucks, with an excellent playoffs for Vancouver, which is also something the other Bruins addition, Nikita Zadorov, did as well.
There’s a certain symmetry to their respective paths here. Both landed in Vancouver as rentals from Calgary last season. Both then left Vancouver in lockstep on the first day of free agency to join the Bruins.
After Quinn Hughes, Zadorov was probably Vancouver’s second-most-impactful defenseman in the playoffs. His brand of mean, borderline dirty hockey, played well for the Canucks, who won a playoff round and then pushed Edmonton to the brink of elimination in the second round. At 6-foot-6, Zadorov adds size to a Bruins blue line that now features a left side that includes him, versatile Hampus Lindholm and emerging youngster Mason Lohrei. That’s a nice blend of skill and toughness. Considering the dollars that the other high-end defensemen were getting in free agency, the $5 million AAV on Zadorov seems about right.
Shopping in NHL free agency isn’t a lot different than in regular life. You can opt for the luxury items, if they’re within your budget. Or you can focus on the necessities, and shop wisely. Here, the Bruins did the latter. By filling two roster needs for reasonable dollars, they are demonstrably better than they were 24 hours ago.
Contract grade for Lindholm: A
Contract grade for Zadorov: B plus
Fits grade: A-plus
(Photo of Elias Lindholm: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
