Lindholm On IR And More Bruins Roster Changes

There was plenty of Boston Bruins roster news breaking on Thursday night as the team prepared to take the ice in Calgary to face the Flames with a 9 p.m. ET (NESN) puck drop.

After terming defenseman Hampus Lindholm week-to-week with what’s believed to be a knee injury, the Boston Bruins placed their second-pairing left-side man on injured reserve. They also recalled defenseman Ian Mitchell from the Providence Bruins to replace defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, who suffered a lower-body injury in his team’s 6-5 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.

Grzelcyk surprisingly took warmups at the Saddledome, along with Mitchell, Derek Forbort, Kevin Shattenkirk, Mason Lohrei, Brandon Carlo, and Parker Wotherspoon starting on the top pairing with Charlie McAvoy. Apparently, whatever is ailing him didn’t improve enough to play, though, and he was not in the lineup.

With the Boston Bruins sitting with just $55,700 in salary cap space, recalling Mitchell meant that a current roster player needed to be assigned to Providence. The sacrificial lamb turned out to be 26-year-old rookie forward Justin Brazeau despite scoring a goal in his first NHL game and the 6-5 Bruins shootout win over the Dallas Stars on Monday and then grabbing an assist on Wednesday night.

If you’re into NHL betting online, you should lean to the OVER when betting on Bruins games with their blue line struggling and so banged up.

It should be noted that Lindholm was only placed on injured reserve. With the NHL Trade Deadline two weeks from Friday, there’s been plenty of speculation if the Bruins, as teams have before, would place Lindholm on long-term injury reserve, let him rest up for the playoffs, and, in the meantime, not have to deal with the just under $2 million remaining on his $6.5 million cap hit heading into the deadline. That will not be the case, according to TSN NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun.

“This is a useful reminder for those watching that if your player is gone until the playoffs, then he doesn’t count against the cap after that in the sense that you can replace him on the cap at the trade deadline,” LeBrun said on the latest TSN Insider Trading.

“And so that is a massive conversation that happens in a lot of front offices at this time of year, especially two weeks out from the deadline. For example, the Tampa Bay Lightning now have more clarity on Mikhail Sergachev, and as expected, they can use his $8.5 million cap hit because they don’t expect him back until the playoffs. And we know it’s the same with New Jersey and Dougie Hamilton. He’s not expected back until the playoffs, and that’s $9.5 million on the cap that the Devils can use.

“But it also goes the other way. Boston doesn’t have Hampus Lindholm right now; he’s week-to-week, but I’m told that is not long-ish term, so that he will be back before the end of the regular season. Viktor Arvidsson, who is back on injured reserve, is not expected to be out that long, so the Kings can’t use his cap hit. So, it cuts both ways. And certainly, at this time of year, it’s one of the most important conversations that are happening around front offices every night as players go down. How long is a player out, and how does it affect the deadline?”