Hampus Lindholm

Last Season

Five goals and 21 assists in 67 games, plus-three, at 21:37 a night. Fifteen games missed.

The Finesse Game

A calm first pass and a good enough set of feet to make it from under pressure. He is not a rushing defenceman and has not been for years; he moves it up and lets forwards carry.

The shot is a point shot and nothing more — 71 per cent of his attempts came from beyond forty feet, median 48, five goals.

The Physical Game

Six foot four, 217, and he defends with reach and body position rather than violence. Fifty-eight penalty minutes is a veteran defenceman taking the ones that stop a chance.

The Intangibles

On a club whose blue line posted almost uniformly poor on-ice rates, he is the exception: 50.5 per cent of the expected goals and 51.3 per cent of the shot attempts, 58th and 70th percentile. Modest numbers in isolation, and the best on the team by a clear margin.

The goals went 52-39 in his favour, which is the rare Boston plus-figure that the expected goals do not immediately undercut.

He is 32 with 829 games behind him and has missed fifteen or more in three of the last four seasons. What he gives you when available is a defence pair that does not leak. The question is how many nights that is.