Bruins Expect Free Agent Additions To Make Bigger Impact Next Season

BOSTON — The Bruins expected far more when they signed Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov to long-term deals on the first day of free agency last July.

Lindholm was expected to be the franchise’s No. 1 center, and Zadorov beefed up the blue line as a defense-first D-man, who is comfortable logging big minutes in his own zone.

Unfortunately for the Bruins, Lindholm got off to a slow start following a back injury he suffered before training camp, and Zadorov, while bringing the physical play Boston needed in the previous two postseasons, led the league with 145 penalty minutes.

Ironically, Lindholm ramped up down the stretch and finished the season with better numbers (17 goals and 30 assists) than his previous season’s production of 15 goals and 29 assists, and Zadorov ended up leading the team with a plus-25 while registering 22 points.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said he foresees better seasons from both players in the 2025-26 season.

“Elias got out of the gate slowly with an injury, as did several of our players, didn’t develop chemistry early on that we had hoped with David (Pastrnak). Late in the season, went back to play with him and played very well there,” Sweeney said at the Bruins’ end-of-season media availability Wednesday at TD Garden. “So that’s the hope that a player that can take a lion’s share of harder match-ups, but still can produce.”

Sweeney continued: “He lost confidence in his shooting, in the bumper, and our power play was not very effective during the course of the season. All players go through that adjustment coming to a new city. There’s a bunch of things, those aren’t excuses. He didn’t offer one single excuse. He didn’t use the injury as an excuse.

“He still had a reasonable offensive year. It’s not what we had hoped, what we expected, and we expect it to be higher. He actually had more points than he had the previous year. But again, that’s not what we had hoped for.”

Zadorov began his tenure with the Bruins a bit differently than Lindholm.

“In Nikita’s case, he came in and was very rambunctious to start the year and took a lot of penalties as a result of it, put himself behind the eight ball,” Sweeney said. “If you look at him statistically, at his point totals. Raw statistics we don’t really look at — plus/minus — all that much from the standpoint of performance. But it is an indicator when good things are happening on the ice versus when bad things are happening on the ice. And he led our team in a significant margin there.

“He stood up for a lot of players. There was a lot of opportunities during the course of the year where other teams tried to exert their will and they had a tough time. So, I don’t think it should be lost on any of us that he brought some of that to the table.”

Despite the adversity both players faced when joining the Bruins last season, Sweeney expects the improvements Lindholm and Zadorov showed after the trade deadline to carry over into next season.

“Ultimately, when we integrate those guys in there, you want immediate impact,” he said. “But they started to grow into their roles, understanding how they’re going to impact our team going forward. And we need to do a better job surrounding them.”