Detroit Red Wings trade Tyler Bertuzzi to Boston Bruins for picks

Steve Yzerman placed the Detroit Red Wings’ future above the present and traded Tyler Bertuzzi.

Yzerman, the Wings' general manager, sent Bertuzzi to the Boston Bruins on Thursday for a conditional first-round pick in the 2024 NHL draft (top-10 protected) and a fourth-round pick in 2025. The Wings retain 50% of Bertuzzi’s salary.

The sides had been unable to gain traction on an extension, and with Bertuzzi eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer, Yzerman stood to gain a better return on Bertuzzi at the NHL trade deadline than this summer. 

The Wings play the Bruins twice later this month: In Boston on March 11 and at Little Caesars Arena on March 12. Boston (47-8-5) has a league-best 99 points and is the Stanley Cup betting favorite.

The move comes a day after Yzerman traded defenseman Filip Hronek to the Vancouver Canucks for a conditional first-round pick and a second-round pick in the 2023 draft. The trade deadline is Friday.

Bertuzzi, who turned 28 last week, had four goals and 10 assists in 29 games this season, and underwent surgery on both hands during the season.

Thursday's trade comes nearly a decade after the Wings selected Bertuzzi at No. 58 in the 2013 draft. A combination of grit and goal-scoring, Bertuzzi worked his way up from the minors to Detroit, and became a top-line winger. 

Bertuzzi made headlines with the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2017, when he was named MVP en route to helping the team capture the AHL championship. By 2018-19, he was a full-timer with the Wings, posting the first of back-to-back 21-goal seasons. 

He looked on track to continue his growth when the pandemic-delayed 2020-21 season began that January, but in his ninth game — at which point he already had five goals on the season — Bertuzzi left early and never returned. Originally the hope was that rest alone would heal his back injury, but when that didn’t happen, Bertuzzi underwent surgery in April 2021. 

He silenced concerns whether that would hinder his effectiveness by scoring 30 goals last season, but also caused consternation within the organization with his decision not to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which meant he was subject to travel restrictions that prevented him from playing in Canada. (It was Yzerman who revealed Bertuzzi would not get the vaccine, and Yzerman said at the time that "I personally am vaccinated, my family is vaccinated. I'll leave it at that.")

The Wings had Bertuzzi earmarked for 30 goals going into this season, but he suffered a broken hand in the second game of the season, sidelining him for a month. Two weeks after coming back from that injury, Bertuzzi broke his other hand when again he was hit by a puck, and that time was sidelined nearly six weeks.

Bertuzzi's injury history led to a two-year, $9.5 million deal in the summer of 2021, a compromise that gave Bertuzzi a $3 million raise from what he had been making, but also allowed him to build a better case for his next contract by not tying him up long term.

But this season he again missed significant time with hand injuries, and the sides were not close in either terms or money. Yzerman could have hung on to Bertuzzi as the Wings chase a playoff spot, but that would have risked Bertuzzi potentially reaching free agency, without getting anything to fortify the rebuild.

Catch "Carlos and Shawn" every Thursday morning at 5 and on demand on freep.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.This week's episode, embedded in the story above, features our Wings reporter Helene St. James and examines the Wings' recent losses and the team's challenges during their playoff push.