The Montreal Canadiens acquired a fourth-round pick and defenceman Gustav Lindstrom as part of the trade with the Detroit Red Wings when they flipped Jeff Petry. Unlike Petry, Lindstrom is relatively unknown and inexperienced. So, let’s get to know him better and look at where he fits into the Canadiens’ organization now that the dust has settled.
Lindstrom will turn 25 at the beginning of the 2023-24 season and has already played 128 NHL games across four seasons. The former 2017 second-round pick (38th overall) has been in and out of the Red Wings lineup for the past two seasons but has stuck around. The Red Wings brought in a lot of help, and even before acquiring Petry, Lindstrom was working on his game, but it looked like he was in the same position as the past two seasons, out of the lineup more often than he was in.
Lindstrom is not an offensive defenceman, but unlike the Red Wings, the Canadiens have a young group, which could allow him to earn more playing time right off the bat. The team is building towards something, and adding a piece like Lindstrom, who has the potential to improve, wasn’t horrible. The Red Wings re-signed the pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) on July 1, so the team saw something in him before changing directions quickly with the trade.
He struggled a bit in 36 games last season, but being out of the lineup for stretches isn’t easy on anyone. He scored one goal and eight points, averaging just over 14 minutes a game and also averaged about a hit and a blocked shot per game. He wasn’t utilized on the power play or penalty kill, and his giveaway/takeaway ratio was horrible, with one takeaway and 17 giveaways. But, for the most part, defenders give the puck away more, although not at this rate. Lindstrom’s ice time dropped by two minutes from the season before, and he also got in just over half of the games. It was time to move on.
His offensive zone start percentage was 54.9 percent, but his Corsi for percentage (CF%) was 46.4 percent. Not very good. Lindstrom is a more defensively-capable defender who wasn’t trusted to start a ton of draws in his own end, even against bottom-six competition. So where would that put him in Montreal?
Does Lindstrom Get the Opportunity He Hopes For?
Lindstrom understood his weaknesses and worked on them over the summer. Last year, he said, “I worked on a lot this summer, working on things like taking the puck from the boards and making quick shots. Hopefully, I can get more shots through this year and shoot more. I want to continue to shoot, which will lead to good things.” Those are still areas of improvement, and it’s unlikely he makes the opening-night lineup.
The Canadiens’ top defence pairing will be Michael Matheson and David Savard. Unless there is some unexpected trade to move Savard, this pairing will also see lots of time on the penalty kill while Matheson leads the top power-play unit. After that pairing, Kaiden Guhle should see the most time overall on the back end and also get playing time on both special teams. Right now, he is the Canadiens’ most promising young player. That leaves three spots in the lineup and four on the team. Lucky for Lindstrom, he is a right-shot defenceman, which is the team’s weaker side this season.
Three of the young Habs’ left-shot defencemen – Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, and Jordan Harris – can all play both sides of the ice, so it doesn’t really give Lindstrom an advantage to play on the right side exclusively. While they can all be moved around easily, Johnathan Kovacevic, who has become a stable defenceman, slots in on the right side and nearly played every game for the Canadiens last season. After him, I guarantee Justin Barron will give it a good run in the preseason and a long look before either making the team or being sent down to start the season. Lindstrom is eligible for waivers, while Guhle, Xhekaj, Harris, and Barron are not, but Lindstrom could still find himself out of the mix. However, he has been the seventh defenceman for the last two seasons, so I can see him starting the season there again. He has to beat out Chris Wideman and maybe one other young defenceman.
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Because he doesn’t play on special teams, Lindstrom will be at a disadvantage, and since he hasn’t shown the potential to be more than what he has been for the last two seasons, he won’t be used heavily this season. He will be given a chance because of his age, but the Canadiens have lots of solid options on defence, and they all showed great stuff in their time last season. I could be wrong, but we will get our first good look at Lindstrom in the preseason to see how he fits into this young group.