Bruins' Hampus Lindholm Done For The Season

He's been out of action since blocking a shot back in November and suffering a leg injury, but key Boston Bruins' defenseman Hampus Lindholm was skating before and during the 4 Nations break, and was seemingly on the road to a return to the B's blueline soon.

Unfortunately, that won't be happening any longer, as GM Don Sweeney has confirmed that Lindholm is now "unlikely" to return in the 2024-25 season.

Sweeney: Hampus Lindholm is “unlikely” to return this season. Suffered a fractured patella and had surgery.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 23, 2025

The sizeable 31-year-old D-man will be having a follow-up surgery next week related to the fractured patella tendon he suffered back on Nov. 12th. "(Hopefully) no setbacks moving forward... (But) It's more constructive for him to not push it the way he'd been pushing it," said Sweeney.

In January, head coach Joe Sacco said “I don’t have an exact time for when he’s going to be hitting the ice, but he’s getting closer to returning to the ice.” And it was only a few days ago that beat writer Conor Ryan reported that there were "no setbacks" for Lindholm, and that he just needed to be cleared by the team medical staff.

Sacco: No updates on McAvoy behind the team’s initial statement. Not setbacks for Hampus Lindholm, just needs to be cleared by the medical staff.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 18, 2025

Obviously, something has changed since then. He missed the team practice this past Tuesday but was seen skating on his own.

Losing the puck-moving defenseman has hurt the Bruins. Only two seasons ago, he led the NHL in plus/minus rating at +49 while recording 53 points in 80 games, blocking 100 shots and finishing 4th in Norris Trophy balloting. Last season, although his offense was down, was another fine season with a +18 rating.

This year, the former 6th overall pick (2012 NHL Draft) had recorded seven points in 17 games with a -4 rating.