Other than Brad Marchand winning the 4 Nations Face-Off with Team Canada, it has not been a good week for the Boston Bruins. Charlie McAvoy suffered a shoulder injury in the tournament and is out for at least the short-term. The Bruins lost their first game back from the break on Saturday, falling to the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in overtime.
And then came Sunday’s update on fellow defenseman Hampus Lindholm. While there had initially been some hope that Lindholm might return after the break, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney revealed after Sunday’s practice that Lindholm is “unlikely to return” this season.
“Hampus, unfortunately, is unlikely to return for the rest of the season,” Sweeney said. “As everybody knows, he had a significant knee injury, fractured his patella, had surgery. There was no real definitive timeline. I think we were pretty open about that, and really didn't want to peg a timeline on it because of the complexity of the injury. He's going to have a follow-up next week to remove a little bit of the hardware, because it created some irritation as he was going through the rehab.
“Again, the healing process has gone long and gone well. He'll have no setbacks moving forward. That being said, it's going to take a little more time form him to heal naturally, and we just don't want to put a timeline on when he'll be back to 100 percent. So, I think it's more constructive to allow him to not continue to push the way he had been pushing, and to let it heal a little more naturally.”
It’s not completely unsurprising. There was obviously a reason that Lindholm went from actually practicing with the team at one point a few weeks ago to no longer skating with his teammates. Having watched several of his practices and individual skates, it was also clear that Lindholm just didn’t look comfortable.
It is nonetheless tough news. It all but puts an end to any hope that getting Lindholm back would be an internal addition that could help the Bruins push for a playoff spot. It also stinks for Lindholm, who got off to a strong start this season in the 17 games he did play, only to have this now turn into a lost season.
As for McAvoy, Sweeney said he is doing well but that there is no timeline for his return.
“Very happy to report that Charlie's doing better,” Sweeney said. “Out of the hospital, as you saw in his attendance to the 4 Nations, and doing better at home with [wife] Kiley and [son] Rhys. Again, no timeline in regards to his surgery and his shoulder, but again, doing much, much better. We're very grateful and appreciative to Dr. Asnis and the medical staff that took care of Charlie.”
Sweeney declined to comment on Team USA’s handling of McAvoy’s injury. The two statements issued by the Bruins last week clearly indicated some disagreement between their medical team and Team USA’s, and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Boston was “extremely unhappy” with what appeared to be a misdiagnosis of the severity of McAvoy’s AC joint injury. McAvoy played an additional game after first suffering the injury and then developed an infection. On Sunday, Sweeney seemed content to avoid any further mudslinging, though.
Here are more takeaways from Sweeney’s Sunday press conference at Warrior Ice Arena:
--- It already seemed unlikely that the Bruins would do any kind of significant buying before the March 7 trade deadline, but in the wake of the Lindholm and McAvoy injury updates and three straight losses on the ice, Sweeney basically confirmed as much on Sunday.
“I think historically we've been pretty aggressive when our team's been in a position,” Sweeney said. “I think we'll take a much more cautious approach as we approach the deadline. That being said, if there are opportunities to improve our team now and certainly moving forward, whether that's positional shifts or other teams trying to identify that we have a strength, we will look at all opportunities to improve our team now, but more importantly, moving forward.”
Later on, Sweeney was asked about the possibility of “restocking” the cupboard given the Bruins’ dearth of draft picks and high-end prospects in recent years.
“Well, I think I referenced that I’m gonna be cautious as it relates to the draft,” Sweeney said. “Do we make moves that acquire and restock? Can we find players that are a little further along and identify them properly? All of the above are all parts of the equation. … It's just about where the wheels spin. As a general manager, you're trying to improve your hockey club overall and improve organizational depth. So, we have to do a better job, and that's what will be tasked going forward.”
--- Of course, the way to “restock” is to trade players away. On that front, Sweeney was asked about where things stand with the Bruins’ pending free agents. Brad Marchand is the biggest name there, and Sweeney made it clear that his goal is to keep his captain in the spoked-B going forward.
“That's always been my ultimate goal,” Sweeney said. “We've been in negotiations with Brad and communicating with him throughout the year. We will have to have a conversation now that 4 Nations is over and sit down with Brad and his representatives and have a clearer path in the next two weeks as to what his final outcome will be.”
That does at least leave the door slightly ajar for a trade if, for some reason, that conversation doesn’t go well and the two sides aren’t close on an extension. It’s possible that the 36-year-old Marchand may want more term on his next contract than the Bruins are willing to offer. Both sides have said they want to keep this relationship going, though, so let’s see if they get something worked out.
Sweeney did not sound as committed to getting something done before the deadline with any of the Bruins’ other pending unrestricted free agents (Trent Frederic, Justin Brazeau, Cole Koepke, Parker Wotherspoon).
“We've been in discussions. I think I have a pretty clear idea where most of those players sit,” Sweeney said. “We have a timeline for some that's different than others, as it relates to UFA or RFA, and we'll address those, as we'll address the Brad one. Everybody's a little bit in the same boat at this point in time, that it's unlikely we’ll move forward with things other than maybe Brad's. But you never know, because obviously it takes one phone call and things change around.”
That would seemingly leave the door wide open to the possibility of trading those pending UFAs, especially Frederic. He’s the one player in that group that the Bruins can definitely get something of value for, and if they’re not going to sign him to an extension before March 7, it wouldn’t seem to make much sense to hold onto him and potentially lose him for nothing after the season.
On the RFA front, there have been reports that the Bruins have gotten calls on Morgan Geekie, whose 16 goals since Dec. 1 are tied for 12th in the NHL during that time. The Bruins don’t have to make a decision on Geekie one way or another right now since he is still under team control this summer, but if someone wants to blow them away, they could potentially cash in while he’s at a career high point. Geekie made it clear Saturday night that he wants to remain a Bruin.
“I mean, I want to be a Bruin,” he said when asked about his name popping up in trade rumors. “I’d love to be a Bruin as long as I can be. It's not up to me. I'm just going to go out there and play. I love every guy in here, everything about the organization, the culture.”
--- Sweeney was asked where the team’s shortcomings have been this season and what his wish list would look like when it comes to fixing them.
“I'm gonna have to unpack a lot of where we fell short,” Sweeney said. “In the context of our depth, as it relates to Charlie and Hampus going down. We didn't get off to the same start that we would have liked and preferred and what we have in the past. When Joe [Sacco] took over, did a very good job in the early going. We had things going in the right direction. We took a turn late January, but more importantly early February where we just started to play more porously than we should as a group. We were chasing offense a little bit. Defensively, started to give up some things. You can't do that.
“As the games get tighter, even in the 4 Nations, you realize the scoring chances are minimal. Players are playing behind and above, and we just didn't do a good enough job collectively as a group. So, we started to spring some leaks in that, and that usually shows up in your depth, and that's probably where the shortcomings sit right now. There’s players that didn't get off to great starts, got their games going, and then we just didn't maintain it after that period of time. So we've got some areas that we certainly need to address, and that falls on me.”
--- Sweeney was asked why, in his estimation, Elias Lindholm has not made the impact that the Bruins were hoping he would.
“Well, Elias got off to a slower start. Started really in training camp where he wasn't 100 percent healthy,” Sweeney said. “Didn't find the continuity with a couple different linemates. But has settled in and done a good job overall of being a bit more of a matchup. Frees up Pavel [Zacha] and David [Pastrnak] to be a little bit more offensively tilted in zone starts and such. So, it's going to show up in your production. It shows up in everybody’s when you’re in the matchup role and you're getting more defensive-zone started. Even playing Matty Poitras in that sense, you've got to toggle in terms of where the players are going to play. Elias has done a good job there.
“Penalty-killing wise is as advertised. Our power play overall hasn't been very effective. It's not just on one man. So, ultimately it's on the five-man unit to continue to improve it. He's taken ownership. To his credit, he's taken ownership that he hasn't had the overall year that he’d like to. I think he's had an uptick in terms of how his play has been, and we expect more. So, it’s a mutual disappoint at this point from the standpoint of how he would like to perform, but he's not going to stop trying, improving and acclimating to our roster and getting better.”
--- Sweeney said there are no plans to remove Joe Sacco's "interim" tag at this time, and that it will be a conversation for the offseason.
--- Lastly, Sweeney was asked if he anticipates giving young forwards Fabian Lysell and/or Georgii Merkulov a longer look in the NHL down the stretch.
“Yeah, if they're playing well,” Sweeney said. “They're going through a good playoff positioning stretch down there. Both those two players are contributing on a nightly basis and working through. They’ve both played up here. If their game merits it, they're going to get a good opportunity to play.”