Boston Bruins defenceman Hampus Lindholm is unlikely to return this season according to General Manager Don Sweeney. Lindholm hasn’t played since mid-November after fracturing his patella, an injury which required surgery.
“He’s going to have a follow-up next week to remove a little bit of the hardware because it’s created some irritation as he’s going through the rehab,” Sweeney told reporters Sunday. “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 for him to heal naturally and we just don’t want to put a timeline on when he’ll back to 100 per cent.”
The 31-year-old had three goals and four assists across 17 games with Boston this season, while averaging 20:51 minutes of ice time prior to the injury. Currently in the third season of an eight-year, $52 million contract extension, Lindholm isn’t the only notable Bruins blue liner who will sidelined indefinitely.
Star defenceman Charlie McAvoy remains out indefinitely after undergoing “an irrigation and debridement procedure” stemming from an infection in his right shoulder that required hospitalization during the 4 Nations Face-Off.
McAvoy was kept for observation at a local hospital during the event, eventually being released from prior to the championship game Thursday.
“Very happy to report that Charlie is doing better,” said Sweeney. “Out of the hospital as you saw his attendance at the 4 Nations. Again, no timeline in regards to his surgery and his shoulder but doing much, much better.”
With both McAvoy and Lindholm out of the lineup, Boston will be without their top two blue liners for the foreseeable future. Currently sporting a 27-24-7 record through 58 games, the Bruins currently find themselves on the outside looking in terms of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.
Now, they’ll have an even tougher hill to climb as they’ll need to replace nearly 45 minutes of ice time a night between the two injuries. The club is next in action on Tuesday evening against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs in a pivotal Atlantic Division showdown.
Photo: Kid Clutch. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.