EDMONTON — Hampus Lindholm, the Boston Bruins’ No. 2 defenseman, is week to week. He is not on the team’s four-game road trip because of an undisclosed injury suffered in the third period of Monday’s 4-3 shootout win over the Dallas Stars. Lindholm will not undergo surgery.

His classification hardly qualifies as concrete.

It could be that Lindholm returns before the March 8 trade deadline. If this is the case, the Bruins may continue to pursue top-six reinforcement on the wing. 

If Lindholm is unavailable beyond March 8, general manager Don Sweeney may have to decide between acquiring a scoring wing and a left-shot defenseman.

Either way, it will cost the Bruins.

Lindholm (one goal and 19 points) has not been the three-zone difference-maker this season that he was in 2022-23 (10 goals, 53 points). But the 30-year-old has averaged 23:42 of ice time per game, up from the 23:11 he logged last season. 

Lindholm’s workload proves that coach Jim Montgomery still likes to tab No. 27 for just about every moment: a shutdown five-on-five shift, point time on the No. 2 power-play unit, second-wave penalty killing.

Good luck replacing a defenseman like that.

Hampus Lindholm’s numbers may be down, but his role hasn’t been diminished this season. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

For now, Mason Lohrei will assume some of Lindholm’s shifts. Lohrei practiced in Lindholm’s usual spot on the No. 2 pairing with Brandon Carlo and at the point on the second PP unit. On the power play, Lohrei’s priority will be getting pucks through for Trent Frederic and Charlie Coyle, the second unit’s down-low dangermen.

“Both times he’s come up and played for us, he’s been really good,” Montgomery said of the rookie (three goals and six points in 27 games, with 16:24 of ice time per appearance). “Our expectation is we know what he is. He’s a good hockey player. He’s someone that’s helped us win a lot of hockey games this year.”

In some ways, the 6-foot-5, 211-pounder is a credible proxy for the 6-foot-4, 224-pound Lindholm. They are good skaters. They take advantage of their length defensively. Neither hesitates to carry the puck out of danger. Lohrei is more dynamic than Lindholm when it comes to puck play in offensive situations.

But Lohrei has room to grow in the defensive zone. At times, the 23-year-old plays a scattershot style that is short on structure. The best solution is time.

“Confidence is the biggest thing,” Lohrei said. “The only way to gain that is by being at the level, playing well and just continuing to gain trust from the coaches. With that, you gain more trust in yourself too.”

Lohrei appeared in seven games during his most recent AHL stretch. On Feb. 3, he suffered a skate cut on his left quadriceps. Lohrei needed 20 stitches to close the wound. He missed two games because of the injury.

“Could have been worse,” said Lohrei.

Lindholm’s injury shortens a left side that has not played to its collective threshold. Matt Grzelcyk, who has always been a shot suppressor, is below 50 percent (46.63 shots-for share at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick) for the first time in his career. Grzelcyk is unrestricted at year’s end.

Derek Forbort has been fighting a groin injury all season. Teams are averaging 64.27 attempts per 60 minutes of five-on-five play against the Bruins with Forbort on the ice. It is the highest CA per 60 of Forbort’s career. Forbort and Kevin Shattenkirk have not always been clean in the defensive zone.

Parker Wotherspoon, who started the year in AHL Providence, has played a career-high 23 NHL games. Wotherspoon, 26, has earned the coaches’ trust as a stay-at-home depth defenseman. But he has been a healthy scratch in three of the past four games.

So even if Lindholm has not reached his 2022-23 level, the Bruins are not happy about his unavailability. If Sweeney believes a trade is necessary, Noah Hanifin would be atop his list. The 27-year-old, No. 2 on The Athletic’s latest trade board, would be an ideal fill-in for Lindholm. Beyond that, Hanifin would become this year’s version of Dmitry Orlov: a do-it-all left-shot defenseman who would complement Lindholm, Grzelcyk and Forbort.

The Oilers add Vladimir Tarasenko? Noah Hanifin heads to Boston for Matt Poitras and more?

And Toronto finally lands Chris Tanev… with a draft pick via Arizona?@eduhatschek on trades we want to see before March 8 ⤵️https://t.co/BJiXzyG0Jg pic.twitter.com/YmxqZvPmiU

— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) February 21, 2024

The unrestricted-free-agent-to-be is due for a raise. The Bruins could afford it because of their own cluster of pending UFAs: Grzelcyk, Forbort, Shattenkirk, Jake DeBrusk, James van Riemsdyk, Milan Lucic, Danton Heinen. The Bruins would love to bring home the Norwood native and St. Sebastian’s schoolboy prodigy.

Whether the Bruins have enough assets to interest Calgary GM Craig Conroy remains to be seen. They do not have first-, second- or third-round picks in 2024. Matt Poitras, one of their brightest prospects, is out for the year following shoulder surgery. Not only that, the Bruins would need help fitting Hanifin’s $4.95 million average annual value onto their books.

The cost would be similarly high for Jakob Chychrun, No. 10 on The Athletic’s list. Chychrun is two years younger than Hanifin and signed through 2025. The Bruins were interested in Chychrun before acquiring Lindholm from the Anaheim Ducks.

For now, the Bruins will turn to Lohrei. Whether secondary options are coming remains to be seen.

(Top photo of Noah Hanifin and Brad Marchand: Bob DeChiara / USA Today)