A busy week in the NHL continued heading into the trade deadline as the Boston Bruins acquired Tyler Bertuzzi from the Detroit Red Wings.
Boston it is for Bertuzzi
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 2, 2023
The Bruins are sending a 2024 first-round pick (top 10 protected) and a 2025 fourth-round pick to the Red Wings.
Red Wings in return for dealing Bertuzzi get Boston's 2024 1st RD pick (protected) and a 2025 4RD pick
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) March 2, 2023
Boston general manager Don Sweeney continues to add depth to his team. First, he adds Dmitry Orlov and Garnett Hathaway last Thursday, and now adds Bertuzzi the day before the deadline. This has been his trade strategy from the start. As NHLRumors.com has written, the Bruins were not looking to make a splash this year at the deadline.
But that did not mean the Bruins were done making moves as President Cam Neely suggested two days ago on NESN
Bruins Cam Neely on NESN on NHL Trade Deadline, "I'm still very happy with our group and where we're at. We still have some time to maybe tinker. We'll look at that. It's a lot of gymnastics going on with the cap but we did give ourselves the opportunity to add if we wanted to."
— Shawn Hutcheon (@ShawnHutcheon) February 28, 2023
The Bruins are dealing with injuries to key players Nick Foligno and Taylor Hall. Especially Hall, who will have a second opinion, that will allow the Bruins to make this move work for salary cap purposes.
Injuries factored into this. Taylor Hall is seeking a second opinion for his lower body issue. The follow up assessment will determine how long he’s out of the Bruins lineup. https://t.co/NaM6QliIxi
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) March 2, 2023
The Bruins are up against the salary cap. Bertuzzi is in the final year of a two-year deal that pays him $4.75 million a season.
Tyler Bertuzzi is on the final year of a $4.75M x 2 year contract. He has 14 pts in 29 GP this season.
He will be a UFA this summer.https://t.co/rpF0pCXmcv
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) March 2, 2023
As part of the deal, Detroit will retain 50 percent of Bertuzzi’s salary. However, the Bruins still have to make a move to get salary cap compliant by 5 pm tonight. They can do this by using LTIR or making another trade.
After adding Bertuzzi @ $2.375M, #NHLBruins now have -$2.06M of Cap Space with 24 players.
They have until 5pm to clear $2.06 to be cap compliant through:
-Trade
-Adding players to LTIR
-Demotionshttps://t.co/2o0hsHS3WG https://t.co/A7YaGphF1s pic.twitter.com/W3HFFnssYh— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) March 2, 2023
In getting Bertuzzi, they are getting a top-six forward that will fit into their middle-six group. Though he is in a scoring rut, he can still drive the play.
The Bruins get even better with Tyler Bertuzzi, a top six forward who is in a bit of a scoring rut this year. pic.twitter.com/oTtwYtBT6m
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) March 2, 2023
Tyler Bertuzzi's finishing touch has deserted him recently but he's still a great playdriver, with a great penalty differential impact. pic.twitter.com/u0fonsZWpj
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) March 2, 2023
Tyler Bertuzzi, acquired by BOS, is a playmaking winger. Scored a lot of goals last season but he's a passer first and foremost. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/j7205USr3y
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) March 2, 2023
This season in 29 games with the Red Wings, the forward has 14 points (four goals and 10 assists). In his career, Bertuzzi has recorded 202 points (88 goals and 114 assists) in 305 career games. The biggest issue for him is staying healthy.
Detroit continues to revamp their team on the fly after losing back-to-back games to the Ottawa Senators. First, they traded Filip Hroneck to the Vancouver Canucks. Then they signed Dylan Larkin to an eight-year contract extension. Now Tyler Bertuzzi is on the move.
As previously mentioned Bertuzzi is a UFA this season and as Pierre LeBrun of TSN notes contract talks never really went anywhere. He had been a target of teams heading into the deadline.
Contract talks never really went anywhere between Bertuzzi's camp and the Red Wings, the last contract conversation was back in December. So Bertuzzi knew this was a possibility. https://t.co/FKTZjSFtbc
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) March 2, 2023
However, Detroit appeared to have taken him off the table before their losses to the Senators.