Report: Bruins to target top forward in free agency

With the season having come to an end for the Boston Bruins once again at the hands of the Florida Panthers, the offseason work has begun for general manager Don Sweeney and President of Hockey Operations Cam Neely. The reality of the salary cap era is that they won't be able to bring every player from this year's roster back, while there will be new faces in the lineup next season. 

And while there remains plenty of speculation as to the futures of the likes of Jake DeBrusk and Linus Ullmark with the franchise, they could be players in the free agent market for Elias Lindholm, who played last season with the Calgary Flames before being dealt to the Vancouver Canucks. 

In his latest "32 Thoughts" podcast, NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet opined that the Bruins are a team to watch when it comes to Lindholm over the summer, along with potentially Chander Stephenson of the Vegas Golden Knights.

"I'm expecting (the Bruins) to be in on (Lindholm) if he hits the market," Friedman said. "Someone else said to me, throw Chandler Stephenson's name in there. I think there are a lot of people expecting Stephenson to be on Boston's radar.

"People definitely believe Boston is going to get a center. ... Whether it's Lindholm, Stephenson or somebody else we're missing right now, there's definitely a belief they're gonna do something down the middle."

The 29-year-old Swedish forward has appeared in 818 career NHL games with the Carolina Hurricanes, Flames and Canucks, scoring 218 goals with 339 assists. He's set to enter free agency as his six year, $29,100,000 million deal he inked with the Flames (AAV of $4.85 million) in 2018 expires. 

The Bruins are expected to have approximately $21 million in salary cap space with which to work. Would bringing aboard Lindholm be a wise investment? 

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