The league leading Boston Bruins have made another move picking up winger Tyler Bertuzzi from the Detroit Red Wings, who will receive a conditional first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft (top-10 protected) and a fourth-round pick in 2025 draft. Detroit will retain 50 percent of Bertuzzi's salary, leaving him with a 1.4 million cap hit. The 28-year-old forward is in the final year of a two-year contract he signed with the Red Wings in 2021 and is an unrestricted free agent at season's end. He has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in 29 games this season. Bertuzzi set career highs last season in goals (30), assists (32) and points (62) in 68 games.

Bertuzzi is the latest acquisition by the Beantown Boys. They previously picked up defenseman Dmitry Orlov and forward Garnet Hathaway in a three-team trade involving the Washington Capitals and Minnesota Wild on Feb. 23. The Bruins possibly felt pressure to pick up another talented forward, as they had to place Taylor Hall and Nick Foglino on injured reserve recently. So far this season Hall has 36 points (16 goals) and Foligno has 26 (10 goals). Hall did not play the past two games because of a lower-body injury sustained against the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 25; Foligno left a 4-3 win against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday with a lower-body injury.

Overall, I think this trade is a great move for the Bruins, even if it was necessitated a bit by injuries to their forward group as discussed above. Bertuzzi fits the Bruins hardnosed style of play, which will only become more prevalent in the playoffs. Detroit meanwhile, even if it manages to find its way into the playoffs (9.8% odds), seem incredibly unlikely to be capable of making a deep run and should instead be looking forward to being truly competitive next season. With this deal the Bruins are a bit scary, even in an incredibly competitive Eastern Conference, which is currently experiencing an aggressive arms race. The Bruins have 13 more points than the next team in the league, have the league's best goal differential by 44 and have only lost 8 games in regulation so far this season; I fear for the wildcard team that gets them in the first round.