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BOSTON — The Boston Bruins acquired a top-six center and a physically strong defenseman on Monday, and they did most of what they wanted to do, if not everything they had to do.
The Bruins signed two-way center Elias Lindholm and big defenseman Nikita Zadorov. The Athletic's Chris Johnston reported that Lindholm's contract is for seven years at $7.75 million and Zadorov's is for six years at $5 million.
The 6-foot-1, 202-pound Lindholm's best season came in 2021-22, when he played between Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk and compiled combined records of 42-40-82.
His performance dropped off after those two stars left, but he still had a decent season with records of 22-42-64.
The 29-year-old Lindholm struggled to find his groove last season with Calgary and Vancouver but did perform well in the playoffs, recording five goals and five assists in 13 games.
Perhaps he will once again be paired with a superstar on the Bruins' top line, with David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha potentially moving to left wing.
Zadorov is primarily a defensive defenceman who tends to take a lot of penalties (he played 54 games with Vancouver last season and received 21 minor penalties), but he had a very good playoff performance with the Canucks, with four goals and four assists in 13 games.
Zadorov and Lindholm were teammates in Calgary before both went on long-term loans to the Canucks and now they'll be playing together again in Boston.
The Bruins also signed backup forward Max Jones, the 24th overall pick in 2016 out of Anaheim, to a two-year, $1 million contract.
