Boston Bruins Prospects: McAvoy Leads Deep List of NHL Potentials
By Joseph Ochs
“Beyond The Horizon”
Prospects We Should Be Excited About, But Shouldn’t Be Holding Our Breath For
Ryan Lindgren-Defense, Minnesota Golden Gophers
The Golden Gopher freshman plays a no-frills, rock-solid game. He’s more of a stay-at-home player than most of his fellow prospects, using his size (6 foot, 200 pounds), strength, positioning, and determination to outwork his opponents. He battles in the corners, he battles in front of the net and takes pride in being a shutdown player and leader. Offensively, he does possess a hard shot from the point and is poised and calm with the puck.
Playing on Team USA’s bottom pairing in the WJC, the 18-year-old recorded one point and was a plus-4 en route to gold. An illness, unfortunately, kept him out of the gold medal game, but he’ll be back in the tourney next season, possibly as team captain.
At Minnesota, Lindgren has one goal and three points through 15 games.
Lindgren’s low-maintenance and steady game would likely land him an NHL spot sooner, were Boston’s pipeline not so loaded with elite prospects at his position. Lindgren likely plays another year or two at Minnesota before battling for an NHL spot.