NHL trade grades: Relentless Bruins win again in adding Tyler ...

Bruins get: Forward Tyler Bertuzzi (50 percent of salary retained)

Red Wings get: 2024 first-round pick (top-10 protected), 2025 fourth-round pick

Dom Luszczyszyn: The rich get richer. The already unstoppable Bruins decided their perfect roster wasn’t perfect enough. That having a greater than 65 percent chance of beating any team in a playoff series wasn’t enough. They needed more.

From 16 Stats today: Every playoff team's chances of beating the Bruins in a seven-game series.Only four teams above 30 percent… and it's already out of date lmaohttps://t.co/DbNZ3GvviS pic.twitter.com/jf3tNkGWSG

— dom ????️ (@domluszczyszyn) March 2, 2023

Enter Tyler Bertuzzi, a bonafide top-six forward to add to Boston’s already startling collection of top-six forwards. The Bruins made arguably the league’s deepest forward group even deeper. How does a third line with Taylor Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi sound to the rest of the league? Because it sounds terrifyingly unfair to me.

Bertuzzi is in a scoring rut this year with just four goals and 14 points in 29 games, but he’s one year removed from scoring 30 goals and 62 points in 68 games. This year he’s scoring on just 6.5 percent of his shots. Over the previous three seasons, he was at 17 percent. That’s a big difference that will regress. There’s no doubt it will in Boston with all the support he’ll have around him.

The biggest plus for Boston is that Bertuzzi isn’t a power play merchant — he usually does his damage at five-on-five. Last season he scored 2.18 points-per-60 while being a hugely positive influence on expected and actual goals. This year, despite the modest production, he’s been even better at driving play offensively. He’s projected to add roughly 1.7 wins to the Bruins — as if they needed it.

This is an all-in year for Boston. It has to be. And good for the Bruins for recognizing that and pushing all their chips into the table. This is the best team I’ve ever seen and it just got even better. It’s really hard to see anyone knocking them off and though this is hockey, the most random sport on earth, the Bruins are doing everything they can to control that randomness by being the best team possible. It’s a sight to behold.

For Detroit, targeting next year’s first was a savvy move given this being a Last Dance for the Bruins. The pick is protected, but that’s still a nice asset to have in its back pocket — especially if they’re ready to make a push next season. That didn’t work out for them this year, and Boston is partially to blame for that, but their pivot over the last two days has been impressive. This is a win-win.

Bruins grade: ARed Wings grade: A

Corey Pronman: The Bruins are the best team in the NHL and should rightfully be doing all they can to maximize their chances at a Stanley Cup. This is such a move. Bertuzzi is an excellent player. He’s a very skilled, and highly competitive wing who is a pain in the ass to play against. His style of play will be great in the playoffs and fits in very well with how the Bruins want to play. How the Bruins make the money work will be interesting. Given no salary is going the other way, Taylor Hall is likely going on LTIR. If he could return for the playoffs that would be quite a lineup.

For Detroit, getting a first-round pick, albeit one a year away, is a solid return. Although the bigger questions in Detroit are less about this deal and the overall direction of the franchise. This was an organization that after an aggressive offseason and a Calder campaign from Moritz Seider thought they were turning it around. Instead, it looks to still be in rebuild mode. With Bertuzzi and Filip Hronek gone, what does Detroit’s timeline look like and what additions will they make this summer?

Bruins grade: B+Red Wings grade: B-

Sean Gentille: It’d be wrong to say that Steve Yzerman is happy that the Red Wings lost consecutive games in Ottawa this week. No GM wants to watch their team’s playoff hopes go from “Whoa, this might happen” to “Actually, never mind” over the course of 48 hours.

But … would it be wrong to wonder? Are the Red Wings in a better spot for next season and beyond now than they were before their set against the Senators? Because dropping those games to their closest wild-card competition, then watching Eastern Conference’s tectonic plates continue to shift, seems to have freed Yzerman up to address his open business. Dylan Larkin, their captain and first-line centerpiece, officially stays put, long-term. Filip Hronek, the 25-year-old second-pair defenseman in the midst of a pre-RFA season that’ll raise his salary above its current $4.4 million, is now a very expensive Vancouver Canuck.

And now this. With no Larkin-ish contract extension in the works, and amidst sinking playoff odds, Yzerman moves on from Bertuzzi. Taking a protected first-round pick in 2024 for a player who’d have left a not-quite-contender in the summer, in most cases, is a no-brainer. Now, Yzerman likely has four first-rounders in the next two years to work with, as trade capital or otherwise. It’s rational, it’s cold, and it’s correct.

What’s left to say about the Bruins, really? Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci are closer to 40 than 30. Seven players are on expiring deals — though they locked up the great David Pastrnak for eight more years moments after making this trade. They might have the greatest regular season team in modern history — and they’re not satisfied. With a team that remarkable, and an expiration date coming up, all you can ask of a GM is that he respects the gift and acts accordingly. That’s what we’ve seen from Don Sweeney. He’s manning a functional battleship.

What I like most about the move, I think, is that it’s both reactionary and utterly correct. Since he traded for Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway (an A, by the way), Sweeney has watched the Maple Leafs overhaul their defense, the Rangers add Patrick Kane and the Lightning ominously clear salary space. So he acted. How about a 30-goal scorer? Does that work? Alrighty then. Bravo.

Bruins grade: ARed Wings grade: A

(Photo: Dave Reginek / NHLI via Getty Images)