Bruins forward Casey Mittelstadt told reporters including Boston Sports Journal’s Joe Haggerty (Twitter link) that there have yet to be talks about a potential contract extension as he enters the final year of his contract. The 27-year-old potted 17 goals and 25 assists in 71 games last season, his first full campaign with Boston after being acquired at the 2025 trade deadline. Mittelstadt made it clear that he’d like to re-sign, however, right now, Boston’s priority has to be locking up Pavel Zacha before making any sort of commitment to Mittelstadt. He’ll carry a $5.75MM price tag this season with AFP Analytics projecting that he could land a small raise next summer to around $6.5MM per year. Given that he can play down the middle when needed, it’s possible his market could be even stronger which could price Mittelstadt out of town altogether.
More from Boston:
Center Elias Lindholm is back to full health, at least for now, relays Boston.com’s Conor Ryan. However, there is some concern that the lingering back issues he has contended with in the past could creep up again at any time, as they did last season. Lindholm has notched 47 and 48 points over his first two seasons with the Bruins which isn’t the type of production they were expecting when they signed him to a seven-year, $54.25MM deal two years ago. However, given how the last few years have gone, that level of production might be the appropriate expectation moving forward, especially if the back issues creep up again.
The team shared some sad news on Friday, announcing (Twitter link) that Alex Gimenez, their newest Director of Hockey Operations, passed away. Gimenez joined the team back in July with a focus on the CBA as part of a bigger shakeup off the ice. This was his first NHL role, but had spent time in the PWHL and with the Boston Red Sox for more than a decade in their baseball ops and scouting departments.