Report links team to star center Lindholm
With just a few days to go before Friday’s NHL trade deadline, the Bruins have been linked to a blockbuster.
Toronto-based reporter Chris Johnston of The Athletic posted on X that with the Vancouver Canucks believed to be in the hunt for the Penguins’ UFA-to-be Jake Guentzel, they could flip center Elias Lindholm to the Bruins to facilitate the move for the Pittsburgh wing. Johnston wrote that, with a lot of parts still moving, nothing is concrete.
Lindholm, 29, is in the last year of a deal that has a cap hit of $4.85 million. With the Bruins nearly at the salary cap limit, they would have to move a roster player to fit him under the cap. The two players who’ve been most speculated on as trade bait have been UFA-to-be wing Jake DeBrusk and goalie Linus Ullmark. But while teams who are close to trades tend to keep involved players out of the lineup until a deal is made, Ullmark made his scheduled start in net and DeBrusk was back in the lineup on Tuesday as well.
The deal, if consummated, would be quite unusual, considering the Canucks gave up a first-round pick, NHL forward Andrei Kuzmenko, who scored 39 goals last season, and a couple of defense prospects on Feb. 1 to land Lindholm, who was considered to be one of the top rentals on the market.
So far he hasn’t been a perfect fit with the Canucks, who have played him on the wing at times. A good twoway centerman, Lindholm could certainly help the B’s in close-out situations and on the faceoff dot. He’s a career 53.1% faceoff man and is at 58% in 14 games with the Canucks.
The Canucks also just signed No. 1 center Elias Petterson to an eight-year, $92.8 million deal.
While playing with Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk in Calgary, Lindholm had a career year in 2021-22, posting 42-4082 totals and a plus-61 that year. He had 22-42-64 totals last season without those star players. Those numbers have taken a bigger hit this year. In 63 games between Calgary and Vancouver, he has a 13-25-38 line.
It has been reported Pittsburgh wants to move Guentzel by Wednesday, so we may not have to wait until Friday to see if this comes to fruition.
Heritage Hall to open
In conjunction with the Bruins’ ongoing celebration of their Centennial season, CEO Charlie Jacobs, team president Cam Neely and a host of dignitaries held the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Heritage Hall at the Garden, which will house memorabilia from the team’s long history as well as a theater for highlight viewing and numerous interactive features.
The Boston Sports Museum played a large role in curating the items and author Richard Johnson, the museum’s curator, beamed with pride.
“When you do a project like this, especially when you knew people like Milt Schmidt and Woody Dumart, gosh, I knew George Owen, who was on the 1929 Stanley Cup team … this is an homage to a tradition built by those gentleman and you want to do them right and I think we have. It ties all the generations together and we’re right here where it means the most,” said Johnson.
“It’s privilege to do this. It’s the greatest hockey city in America. Not only are we the first (US-based NHL team), we’re the best, whatever they say in Detroit, this is Hockey Town right here.”
The museum opens to the public on Wednesday and has such items as Gerry Cheevers’ famed scarred mask he wore in practice, Terry O’Reilly’s beat-up gloves he wore in the 197374 season, and a copy of the album Goal: Bruins!, which was a daily listening if you were Boston child of the 1970s.
“A lot of (the items) are on loan to us, so we were able to borrow some things from our friends in Toronto at the Hall of Fame and then from collectors and players. We want to showcase the best of the best. We’ve had help from everybody from Bobby Orr to Cam Neely and Tuukka Rask. We’ve had a lot of help,” said Johnson.
Rask, the B’s winningest goalie who is now a team ambassador, was on hand and marveled at some of the old school equipment, especially for goalies.
Could he have played with some of that gear?
“I could, but I’d probably get violently hurt,” cracked Rask.
Mr. 1,000
James van Riemsdyk, set to play his 1,000th NHL game on Tuesday against the Oilers, will be honored with the traditional silver stick ceremony prior to the B’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers, an appropriate opponent, on March 16 at the Garden.
The Flyers picked van Riemsdyk, who signed a one-year deal with the B’s last summer, with the second overall pick in the 2007 draft and he played eight seasons in Philly in two tours of duty sandwiched around six seasons in Toronto.
“It feels a little surreal to be honest,” said van Riemsdyk before the game. “You don’t realize the significance of it till you get into the league. I remember the guys who were around the this point when I was coming in and to think about it all these years later is pretty cool. Moments like this are cool to share with your support system who help you make it to this point over a long time. Obviously, there’s ups and downs along the way. You feel lucky to get the support you have from your family and friends.”
Goalie rotation
Rask was asked if he was curious to see how a goalie rotation in the playoffs would play out if the B’s should indeed decide to go with it.
“Very curious,” said Rask, who played in all the games in his two runs to the Stanley Cup Final. “I can’t see why it couldn’t work, but it’s easier said than done. Because going into the playoffs, you want to ride the hot hand. But then you have the rotation working for you here, too. It’s a tough question. You’d like to have both goalies hot, but you can’t have both goalies cold. But, hey, I’m not making those decisions. Talk to Goalie Bob (Essensa, the goalie coach).”