Bruins D Lindholm (knee) unlikely to return for rest of the season; McAvoy doing 'much better'
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Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney announced on Sunday that defenceman Hampus Lindholm is unlikely to return for the rest of the season due to his knee injury.
Lindholm has not played since mid-November after fracturing his patella which required surgery.
"He's going to have a follow-up next week to remove a little bit of the hardware because it's created some irritation as he's going through the rehab," Sweeney told the media on Sunday. "The healing process has gone long and gone well, he'll have no setbacks moving forward. That being said, it's going to take a little more time for him to heal naturally and we just don't want to put a timeline on when he'll back to 100 per cent."
The 31-year-old had three goals and seven points in 17 games with Boston while averaging 20:51 minutes of ice time before the injury.
He is in the third season of an eight-year, $52 million contract extension he signed with the Bruins in March of 2022.
The sixth overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft by the Anaheim Ducks, Lindholm was traded to Boston on March 19, 2022 in exchange for a first-round pick, two second-round selections, and defencemen Urho Vaakanainen and John Moore.
The Helsingborg, Sweden has skated in 762 career NHL games, scoring 73 goals and 313 points split between the Ducks and Bruins.
Sweeney gives update on McAvoy
Sweeney also provided an update on defenceman Charlie McAvoy, who remains out indefinitely after undergoing "an irrigation and debridement procedure" stemming from an infection in his right shoulder that required hospitalization during the 4 Nations Face-Off.
McAvoy, who was representing Team USA, was hospitalized last week and did not participate in the 4 Nations championship game, a 3-2 overtime win for Canada over the United States. He was released from the hospital prior to the game on Thursday and was in the American locker room to read out the starting lineup.
"Very happy to report that Charlie is doing better," said Sweeney. "Out of the hospital as you saw [in] his attendance at the 4 Nations. Again, no timeline in regards to his surgery and his shoulder but doing much, much better."
McAvoy has seven goals and 23 points in 50 games this season with Boston while averaging 23:40 minutes of ice time.