Hampus Lindholm only played 17 games in the 2024-25 season, with his final game coming on November 12, in St. Louis. Lindholm exited that game early, and never returned for the Boston Bruins.

That night, the Bruins iced the standard 18 skaters. Of those 17 skaters, aside from Lindholm, on that night in St. Louis, eight have been traded or left as free agents. That's a shocking amount of roster turnover, no matter the circumstances.

When Lindholm returns to Boston's lineup, it's not going to come close to resembling the team he played for last year.

At Wednesday's Boston Bruins Foundation Golf Outing, he opened up about the frustrations of not being out there with his guys.

"It's hard. You want to be out there and fight with the guys, win or lose, and obviously I feel like I could've made some difference with the team last year." Lindholm said, "I was sidelined unfortunately and have been trying to take that time to, instead of feeling sorry for myself, to try to put that time into improving myself and get better and coming back a stronger and better version of myself there this season, so right now I'm just excited to be here."

That burning desire to get better drove Lindholm's thoughts all summer. He shared he's been skating since June, and took part in the SHL''s Rögle BK's training camp in Sweden. 

The ability to find something positive out of a season where he missed not only 65 Bruins games, but also the entirety of the 4 Nation's Face-Off, could easily derail one's mindset for a long time. Not with Lindholm. 

"I always try to turn into something positive," Lindholm said, "you can't really do anything about those things, and I've been trying to look at my injury this summer and all the time that I had to try to get stronger, bigger, and to have an even better season this season than I've had in the past. So, I'm very, very excited, very full of energy to come back, and excited to see the guys." 

Clearly, Lindholm is finding the positives as he prepares for the 2025-26 NHL season. His ability on the ice and off as a leader will be pivotal to any success Boston will find this year.