The Boston Bruins Season Preview - Andreas Lindstrom

The fresh-faced newcomer from Providence was second on the junior team in scoring last year (21-31-52), and has a big swagger coming into this season.

He shouldn't.

That's not to say the team does not have high expectations for Lindstrom, they just are not expecting great things from him this season. With a lot of talent ahead of him, Lindstrom will encounter struggles for ice time. Against him will be, obviously, Martin Havlat and Jochan Hecht, manning the first two lines, as well as two players similarly skilled to him, Matt Hartigan and Martin Samuelsson.

"In our three-men-for-two-spots battle at left wing," GM Joshua Anderson stated, "we come down to Hartigan, Samuelsson, and Lindstrom. Hartigan is a solid shooter, strong at puck control and passing, and the most disciplined of the three - a concern given our penalty kill. Samuelsson is probably more of an all-around player - good across the board, not excelling anywhere, but good."

He paused, adding, "Lindstrom gives us the best shooting option, but can be a defensive liability, but he is the strongest and arguably the quickest of the three men. He will definitely see ice time, but I think he will be our third option of the three - for now. The biggest detriment to his game is his discipline, as evidenced by those near-three-hundred penalty minutes he took last year."

Prediction - 10 games, 2-6-8

(Oh - that is probably not the Bruins' Lindstrom at right, but frankly, you wouldn't know one way or the other, would you?)