Evaluating The Hampus Lindholm Effect
The veteran defenseman had a plus-5 rating in the Boston Bruins' 6-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday afternoon.
Evaluating The Hampus Lindholm EffectHampus Lindholm hasn’t showcased the same caliber of offensive production from his 53-point 2022-23 season. However, the left-shot defenseman has nonetheless been a stable force in the Boston Bruins’ 31-9-9 record at the All-Star break.
Lindholm went 10 games before registering his first point of the 2023-24 season and now has 19 (one goal, 18 assists) through 49 games. The 30-year-old has been hitting his stride as of late with four points in his last five games and a plus-5 rating Saturday afternoon in the Bruins’ 6-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Lindholm’s impact feels more visible now that his name is on the scoresheet, but he’s been a core piece to Boston’s first-half success – especially in a defensive group that was rattled with injuries and on-the-fly adjustments.
“Sticking to the Bruins game. We’ve talked about it all year, it’s the little things,” Lindholm said to reporters Saturday. “When we work as five out there and everyone’s chipping in and playing the right way, it proves that we’re effective and we’re hard to play against. And we get rewarded as well.”
The B’s second pair of Lindholm and Brandon Carlo has arguably been its most reliable duo. Standing at 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-5, respectively, the burly blueliners have power in their strides, close out well and take pride in their breakouts. They’ve been able to balance each other out, too. Carlo’s stay-at-home defenseman nature allows Lindholm to insert himself into the offense – something Bruins coach Jim Montgomery has been encouraging his backend to do more.
“I think I’ve been finding the spaces to jump up and building that relationship with [Carlo] too, how we work together,” Lindholm said. “I think we’ve been doing really good shutting down the other teams’ top guys and then also creating offense.”
Lindholm’s average 23:51 of total ice time this season is just second behind Charlie McAvoy at 24:33. The Swede anchors the second power-play unit with Kevin Shattenkirk, Morgan Geekie, Pavel Zacha and Trent Frederic, and is a big part of the Bruins’ 82.8 percent penalty kill on the first unit with McAvoy, Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle.
No one’s going to deny the want for more goals, especially from a player like Lindholm, who proved his offensive upside last season. However, his lack of production in that category has not held the Bruins back. The team’s recent depth scoring has propelled them to second place in the NHL with 71 points.
The emergence of players like Frederic (six points in the last five games), James van Riemsdyk (five points in the last five games) and Coyle – who is on pace for a career year with 42 points (18 goals, 24 assists) – has given the Bruins a different level of believability that anyone in the lineup can be a difference maker.
If Lindholm can keep up his point consistency after the break, all the better.
“I think me and everyone in this locker room has had a lot of belief in this locker room,” Lindholm said. “Even losing guys like that, the guys we got in – we have a great hockey team.”
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