Getty The Boston Bruins are looking for a center and a few options have started to emerge.
The Boston Bruins could be considering acquiring a top-line center to improve their playoff results after crashing out of the postseason before reaching the conference finals in back-to-back seasons.
Recent reports have linked two players to the Bruins: Edmonton Oilers‘ Leon Draisaitl (under contract through the 2024/25 season) and Vancouver Canucks‘ Elias Lindholm (unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2024).
Former NHL player and analyst Georges Laraque suggested on BPM Sports, 91.9 FM in Montreal (h/t Boston Hockey Now), that Draisaitl, under contract for one more season with the Oilers, could be interested in joining the Bruins if he does not extend his contract with the Oilers and the team doesn’t advance deep into the playoffs.
“Someone well placed within the Oilers organization said that if the Oilers don’t go deep in the playoffs, he doesn’t see Draisaitl re-signing at the end of his deal and that he’d prefer to be a first-line center in Boston,” Laraque said on April 30.
Before going after Draisaitl, the Bruins might pursue Lindholm once he becomes a free agent on July 1, 2024.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, who discussed it on the May 24 episode of the “32 Thoughts” podcast, expects the Bruins to pursue Lindholm if he becomes available.
“Lindholm is a player (the Bruins) liked before he was traded to Vancouver,” Friedman said on May 24. “I’m expecting them to be in on him if he hits the market.”
Boston Could Think About Pursuing Draisaitl or Sign Lindholm
Draisaitl, 28, will begin the final season of an eight-year, $68 million contract with the Oilers. He will turn 30 years old at the end of his current deal after the 2024-25 season.
Laraque expanded on his initial late-April report by telling Boston Hockey Now that Draisaitl might not re-sign with the Oilers once his deal is up. That, in turn, could force Edmonton’s hand and make the franchise think about trading him instead of losing the player for nothing in July 2025.
“Someone around the team told me that there’s a chance Leon doesn’t resign with the Oilers and the importance of this playoff run was huge for that regard,” Laraque told BHN. “Then when we were talking about potential best fit, I said Boston because they had no centers.”
Jimmy Murphy, the author of the BHN story quoting Laraque, mentioned “a source who knows Draisaitl” telling the outlet that “Draisaitl works out with Bruins superstar winger David Pastrnak in Prague each offseason, and the two have become ‘friends.’”
As for Lindholm, he didn’t have a great regular-season stint with the Canucks (12 points; 6 goals, and 6 assists in 26 games) following his trade from Calgary in February 2024. That said, he was great in the playoffs for Vancouver scoring 10 points (5 goals, 5 assists) in 13 games.
Perhaps one of the most appealing traits of Lindholm’s skill set is his defensive prowess, leading him to finish as the runner-up for the Selke Trophy in 2021-22. Former Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, for context, won the award six times playing for Boston.
Bruins’ Need for a Top Center & Cap Situation
The Bruins need a top-line center to fill the void left by retired stars Bergeron and David Krejci and get over the postseason hump.
This season, Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha were the main performers at the position for Boston but they’re far from what could be considered a superstar player at the most important position in hockey.
Coyle and Zacha set career highs in scoring, with 60 and 59 points, respectively, but their playoff performance fell short. Zacha has one goal in 25 career playoff games, while Coyle scored only one goal in 13 games during the 2024 playoffs.
“People definitely believe Boston is going to get a center,” Friedman said on the May 24 episode of his podcast. “Whether it’s Lindholm, (Chandler) Stephenson, or somebody else we’re missing right now, there’s definitely a belief they’re gonna do something down the middle.”
According to PuckPedia, the Bruins project to have more than $23 million in salary cap space for the offseason. General Manager Don Sweeney will have a good assortment of options to chase if he decides to bolster the Bruins’ forward lines.
That group includes centers Steven Stamkos, Chandler Stephenson, Matt Duchene, Max Domi, and Alex Wennberg among others expected to become free agents.
“Someone else said to me, throw Chandler Stephenson’s name in there,” Friedman said. “I think there are a lot of people expecting Stephenson to be on Boston’s radar.”
Stephenson has had 50-plus points in three consecutive seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights. In the 2023 postseason, Stephenson scored 20 points in 22 playoff games, winning the Stanley Cup with Vegas.