Every year at the trade deadline, there is always a trade that happens that nobody sees coming. This season, that distinction belonged to the Boston Bruins and general manager (GM) Don Sweeney. Two days after finishing a Western Canada road trip at the end of February, the Bruins returned home with two new teammates, Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway after a Feb. 23 trade with the Washington Capitals. During the trip, the Black and Gold suffered two injuries to a pair of left wings, Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno. With both injuries looking like they would force the two veterans to miss some time, Sweeney sprung into action.
Related: Boston Bruins 2022-23 Player Grades: Dmitry Orlov
Just hours after announcing a contract extension to David Pastrnak on March 2, the Bruins announced that they acquired Tyler Bertuzzi from the Detroit Red Wings. Nobody saw that coming. It was a move by Boston’s GM to give his team more depth to finish out the regular season and postseason.
Bertuzzi Shined With Bruins
To get Bertuzzi, Sweeney gave up Boston’s 2024 first-round draft pick, top-10 protected, and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 Draft. Injuries hampered the end of Bertuzzi’s time in Detroit, but once he landed in Boston, he made the seamless transition into the lineup in the top nine for coach Jim Montgomery.
It was only 21 regular season games in Boston following the trade, but he made his mark with four goals and 12 assists for 16 points. He played up and down the lineup for Montgomery, but it appeared his best fit was on the second line with Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak late in the regular season when David Krejci was out injured. He also played well on the third line with Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic, even setting up Frederic for a couple of goals on a road trip against the Winnipeg Jets and Chicago Blackhawks.
Bertuzzi Took His Game to Another Level Against Florida
As good as Bertuzzi was in the regular season, he was even better in the first-round series against the Florida Panthers. In the seven games, he had five goals and five assists, with a lot of the work coming on the power play with six points. He set up Pastrnak for the first goal of the series in Game 1 with a nifty behind-the-back pass across the front of the net. In Game 6, he scored a key third-period goal, redirecting a Brandon Carlo shot from the point, then in Game 7, he tied the game a minute into the third period when he redirected an Orlov shot from the point.
Like the rest of his teammates, he did struggle at times in the series with giveaways in the defensive end, which contributed to him finishing the postseason with a plus/minus of minus-4. Offensively, he had 21 shots on the net in the series and was causing problems in front of the Panthers’ net, but like the rest of the Black and Gold, he couldn’t find that one more goal that was needed to win the series.
Bertuzzi Hits Free Agency
It was clear at the time of the deal that Bertuzzi was going to be a rental on an expiring contract, that the Red Wings retained 50% of. As time went on, however, it’s clear that the Bruins liked what he gave them and would like to have him back next season and beyond. Why not? A line of Bertuzzi, Zacha, and Pastrnak could be a very good one.
How Sweeney can retain him, if he does at all, is going to take a lot of work. Boston has very little cap space, and multiple free agents and it’s likely trades will have to be made to clear room by unloading some talented players at forward, defense or even goaltending. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote in his 32 Thoughts column that the Bruins were “exploring what it needs to do to keep Tyler Bertuzzi, who is slated to be an unrestricted free agent this summer.” It’s not surprising that they would be doing that, but can they make it work around the cap and does Bertuzzi want to return? That’s the question. Free agency begins on July 1 and we should know the answers to that question and more very soon.