With the regular season back in full swing, teams are getting back to the grind but one team that will have to do so is the Boston Bruins, who are going to be without a very key player for the rest of the 2024-25 season.
On Sunday it was revealed by GM Don Sweeney that defenseman Hampus Lindholm would be missing the rest of the regular season due to an injury.
It's a huge blow to the Bruins who are only one point out of a Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Lindholm has been out with a lower-body injury since mid-November, and an update was expected after the 4 Nations; though it's not the one that the Bruins or their fans had hoped for.
Lindholm, 31, was supposed to add a shutdown defender with offensive potential but his injury really derailed any momentum he had.
This season in 17 games, he has three goals and four assists but has been derailed by injuries in the past.
For his career, Lindholm has 73 goals and 240 assists in 762 games since being drafted 6th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in 2012. He was the centrepiece of the trade sending him to Boston for a bunch of draft picks and mid-tier players.
It's another huge blow to the Bruins defense as Charlie McAvoy found himself with a serious injury that while he's since been deemed healthy; his status is still unknown about returning.
It will be up to players like Nikita Zadorov, Mason Lohrei, and Brandon Carlo to pick up the slack in both Lindholm and McAvoy's absence, and Boston can't afford anymore setbacks when it comes to their season.
Lindholm is in the third year of his eight-year extension he signed in 2022, and is making $6.5M until 2029-2030.
It's going to be tough for the Bruins to keep pace in the Atlantic and Wild Card without two of their top defensemen, but with other teams like Florida missing some key pieces as well; it seems the field is wide open for the rest of the season.