Bruins Sign David Pastrnak, Acquire Tyler Bertuzzi From Red Wings
Bruins Sign David Pastrnak, Acquire Tyler Bertuzzi From Red Wings
It’s been a busy morning for the Boston Bruins.
The biggest news is they re-signed David Pastrnak to an eight-year, $90-million contract extension. The annual average value is $11.25 million with a full no-movement clause in the first five years and a modified no-trade for the final three.

Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Boom goes that silly illusion that Pastrnak should accept a “hometown discount” of $8 million annually for eight years.
The Bruins had the 26-year-old winger for the past six years on a bargain deal of $6.7 million annually. Over the course of that contract, Pastrnak became an elite scorer, sitting fifth in total goals (223) and winning the Richard Trophy in 2020. He’s currently on pace to become the first Bruin to enjoy a 50-goal season since Cam Neely in 1993-94.
Pastrnak is poised to become the Bruins’ franchise player with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand in the twilight of their careers. Indeed, the case can be made that he already is their franchise player.
The Bruins couldn’t afford to lose Pastrnak. His new cap hit is comparable to what Toronto’s Auston Matthews (another Richard Trophy winner) is earning on his contract. Yes, it’s expensive, but that’s the cost of keeping a superstar.
The Bruins also made another trade, acquiring Tyler Bertuzzi from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a conditional first-round pick in 2024 (top-10 protected) and a fourth-rounder in 2025. The Wings are also retaining half of Bertuzzi’s $4.75 million cap hit for this season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This move should provide the Bruins with impressive depth at left wing with Bertuzzi joining Taylor Hall and Brad Marchand for the remainder of the season. However, this deal may have been made due to a lower-body injury suffered by Hall on Monday. That could mean he’ll be sidelined longer than just a few games.
Whatever the motivation for acquiring Bertuzzi, it’s a significant move by Bruins general manager Don Sweeney. It comes a week after bringing in Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway from Washington. When healthy, the 28-year-old Bertuzzi is an agitating winger with a good scoring touch, tallying 30 goals in 68 games last season.
Bertuzzi is the second player traded by the Red Wings in as many days with Filip Hronek getting shipped to Vancouver yesterday. Wings general manager Steve Yzerman might not be done as he’s also reportedly looking at moving Jakub Vrana and Filip Zadina.