If the Boston Bruins trade Pavel Zacha, as the rumors suggest, it is time for Elias Lindholm to become the player they paid for, finally. Trading Zacha would leave Lindholm with nowhere to hide, as the makeup of the lineup will change significantly. There was a chance that if Zacha stayed and Fraser Minten elevated, that Lindholm would settle in as the team's third-line center, but a trade would send all of that into flux.
I believe that if Zacha does move, it will be because the Bruins have found a younger center who is under more control. The Bruins risk losing the Czech center if they can't reach an extension with him before next season, and acquiring someone like Mason McTavish would give Boston a longer-term option that aligns more closely with the retool they are trying to accomplish.
The problem with that is that during the retool, the Bruins are still trying to contend for a playoff spot. Minten showed that he might be ready to be a member of a playoff-contending top-six, but throwing him and McTavish out there every night to anchor that group might be a bit of a tall ask. It's possible that they would still slot into those roles lineup-wise, but Lindholm, as the third center, will still have to pick up his game on nights that one of the two young centers doesn't have it.
If there is no trade, Lindholm won't have to take on that responsibility as much because Zacha is a similarly low-maintenance center who won't make fans jump out of their seats as much as others, but the coaching staff knows what they are getting from him every night. In that case, Lindholm's contract can waste away on the third line, as he plays well enough to make an impact but not well enough to pay off the deal Don Sweeney gave him.
In my opinion, as well as most fans', is that trade or no trade, Lindholm needs to have a resurgence. He will be in year three of a seven-year deal where he makes a shade under $8 million annually. There are players around the league on much lesser deals giving their teams much more than the Swedish center has ever given the Bruins. If not, he should be the one heading out the door and not Zacha. Unfortunately, who would want him?
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