Boston Bruins: Is Par Lindholm expected to replace Marcus Johansson?

Marcus Johansson came in last season and did a great job on the third line. Unfortunately his price tag was too high and he departed; the Boston Bruins did however pick up Par Lindholm at free agency who may be able to fill the gap.

Par Lindholm came into the NHL last season on a one-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs, expected to play as their fourth-line center but ending up on the wing more often than not. With the Boston Bruins having a clear gap on the third line left wing, maybe Par Lindholm is the perfect cheap replacement for Marcus Johansson, who departed, signing with the Buffalo Sabres.

Announced as a new Boston Bruins player late on day one of free agency, Par Lindholm offers a degree of versatility to the team that means he could slot in just as comfortably as a center, should Charlie Coyle bump up the line-up, as he might on Coyle’s left wing.

Statistically, it’s a bit of a challenge to judge where he should be in the Boston Bruins line-up; his performances last season with both the Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets didn’t exactly see him getting it done with regards to points production.

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What is interesting though is how comparable Par Lindholm was statistically to Marcus Johansson in the regular season. Both players played for two clubs that obviously had different systems to get to grips with, however we’ll compare using the teams they saw most games with; the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New Jersey Devils.

Now, this is somewhat of an unfair comparison given the players surrounding Johansson in New Jersey to those in Toronto surrounding Lindholm, it’s all we can work with:

Johansson in 48 games with the Devils had an expected Goals For of 48.03%, relative Corsi For of 0.27% and was scoring 1.36 points per 60 minutes. Contrast that with Lindholm in 61 games with Toronto (he only saw 4 in Winnipeg); expected Goals For were 0.1% higher at 48.13%, relative Corsi For was actually far worse at -5.39% but he was scoring at 1.22 points per 60 minutes; just 0.14 difference to the former Boston Bruins player.

When you put their statistics side-by-side like this; you could make reasonable comment that just maybe Par Lindholm can fulfil the same role as Marcus Johansson did last season. He might well be the perfect fit alongside Charlie Coyle and Danton Heinen, assuming the Boston Bruins roll a similar third line to last season.

If that’s the case, I know I’d rather have the guy costing $850,000 per season the next two years than the one costing $4.5 million a year in those same seasons. Especially given the expensive one does have a patchy injury history.

There should be no doubt Lindholm will be heading to Boston feeling he has a point to prove to both the Maple Leafs and Jets. All the better for us, I say.

Statistics courtesy of Puckpedia.