Bertuzzi: 'Very, Very Happy to be Joining the Bruins'

BOSTON - Brad Marchand was envisioning the conversation.
And it was not going to be the first of its kind he's had this week.
The veteran winger has gotten into his share of tussles over the course of his decade-plus career, and two of his newest teammates were among the combatants.

So, when Garnet Hathaway arrived from Washington last week, the two reminisced about their previous encounters as opponents - with a laugh or two, of course. Marchand expected nothing different when greeting Tyler Bertuzzi, the skilled and gritty winger acquired by the Bruins from the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday morning.
"Garnet and I were just kind of joking about sometimes we play against each other and all the fun we had, but I'm sure it will get brought up at some point," Marchand said on Friday morning at Warrior Ice Arena.
Marchand and Bertuzzi had a memorable quarrel at TD Garden on Dec. 1, 2018, that led to a sizeable scrum in front of the benches that almost had goalies Tuukka Rask and Jimmy Howard squaring off at center ice.
"We didn't have too many run-ins," said Marchand. "We had that one there in Boston. But he's just a competitive guy. And he wears his heart on his sleeve and, obviously, guys like that tend to get into it a little bit more with other players and then some others, which is fun to see."He's a really good player. Plays very hard and will fit our mold really well. It just adds a ton of depth to our group. So, I'm really excited he's part of the team."
Bertuzzi, likewise, is eager to join the best team in hockey - though it's a bittersweet transition for the 28-year-old, who had spent the first seven season of his NHL career with the Red Wings.
"Yeah, it was an emotional day [Thursday]," said Bertuzzi, who arrived in Boston around 8:30 p.m. ET and hit the ice for the B's optional practice on Friday morning at Warrior Ice Arena. "Once things settled down, when I landed here, I just got very excited and I'm just looking forward to being here…I'm grateful for this opportunity…I had an idea I was going to be getting traded, I didn't know where but I'm very, very happy that it's here and I'm looking forward to get going.
"Obviously, a special group here. I met most of the guys today, coaches and everything, so it's going to take me a little bit to get used to everyone but I'm excited. I'm excited to just play."

Bertuzzi, while having exchanged plenty of pleasantries with Marchand in the past, arrives in Boston with previous friendships with only fellow Sudbury, Ontario, native Nick Foligno and Tomas Nosek, his former linemate with the Grand Rapids Griffins, the AHL affiliate of the Red Wings from 2014-16.
"I knew he was a good guy," Bertuzzi said of Marchand. "He's tough to play against, hard to play against, but luckily we're teammates now so hopefully we can do it together."
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said that Bertuzzi will make his Bruins debut on Saturday afternoon against the New York Rangers (1 p.m. ET on ABC and 98.5 The Sports Hub) and is likely to start his tenure in Black & Gold as the third-line left wing alongside Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic with both Taylor Hall and Foligno expected to be sidelined for extended periods with lower-body injuries. Bertuzzi is also expected to see time on both special teams units, particularly the power play.
"I think he's an excellent hockey player, someone that understands how to win," said Montgomery. "He's a great complementary winger, he goes hard to hard areas, he's a great net front guy, 5-on-5, power play, he's got a lot of sandpaper to him as Bruins fans will know from his altercation with our other sandpaper guy, Marchy."
The 6-foot-1, 197-pounder has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in just 29 games this season after breaking both of hands at different points earlier in the year. As such, it's been a frustrating and disappointing campaign after having registered career highs in goals (30), assists (32), and points (62) in 68 games for the Red Wings last season.
"It was tough. I broke my one hand the second game of the season and then I came back and seven games later I broke my other hand," said Bertuzz. "So, it's kind of been a tough season, then once I got back I kind of got in the groove of things a little bit and I'm feeling a lot better now… I'm just trying to look past that and move on."
Bertuzzi had previously registered back-to-back 21-goal seasons in 2018-19 and 2019-20."It just came with working hard and trying to get to the dirty areas," Bertuzzi said of his scoring touch. "Hopefully, I can score a couple of goals here and hopefully I'll fit in well."

Marchand Good to Go

Despite leaving Thursday night's game against the Sabres in the second period with a lower-body injury, Marchand is expected to be fine to play on Saturday afternoon when the New York Rangers visit TD Garden.
"I feel as good as I look. You decipher that one," Marchand said with a smirk. "No, I feel good. We were really kind of sure what happened there. Kind of banged my knee and just wanted to be safe."
Montgomery echoed the winger's sentiments, saying that the team was being cautious.
"He's a player [on Saturday]," said Montgomery. "He's fine. He could have played [Thursday] night, we were just precautionary in the third."
Montgomery said that with a cramped schedule of 13 games in 22 days beginning on March 9, as well as five consecutive Saturday-Sunday back-to-backs beginning the weekend of March 11-12, the team has discussed the possibility of resting veteran players like Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci ahead of the postseason.
"Yeah, we've talked about it," said Montgomery. "I know I've talked about the subject, broached it with both Bergy and Krech, and I've talked to Sweens about it. I think after [Saturday's] game with the four days rest, we're going to start looking at specific dates to target.
"After this weekend, every Saturday and Sunday we have back-to-back with travel almost every time. So, if we can save on travel and miss a game and we're in the situation we're in… we're in a very favorable position so those are things we're going to look at."

No Updates on Hall, Foligno

Both Montgomery and Sweeney were without further updates on the lower-body injuries that have sidelined Hall and Foligno, saying nothing has changed from the word in recent days that the veteran forwards were likely to miss extended time.
"Yeah, I think they're still assessing, getting a second opinion right now on where [Hall's] going to be at with his lower body injury," said Montgomery. "Foligno, there's no update, we just know it's going to be a significant amount of time."
"It's just undefined in terms of the timeline," added Sweeney. "We have our fingers crossed that we're going to see them at some point and time well down the road, but really [it's] undetermined at this point."
Sweeney admitted that the Bruins were somewhat fortunate that the injuries happened ahead of the deadline, which helped him facilitate a deal with Detroit for Bertuzzi, who will help fill the void left by both players.
"We were fortunate that in some ways those injuries happened prior to today, in all honesty, because you could make a bit of a pivot," said Sweeney. "That happens all [Saturday], knock on wood obviously, you're in a bit of a pickle, but you have your fingers crossed, there's no question - everybody does. Then hope you have enough time that maybe down the road they are able to return because we put ourselves in a decent position to get in the playoffs and have an opportunity.
"It's discouraging for them because the timeline is really undetermined. We're fortunate with Brad and now he's nicked up twice here [this week] and it's hard to replace top level players at this time of the year and you can't after today."

Hitting the Deadline

Sweeney acknowledged that the Bruins continued to discuss further movement on Friday ahead of the 3 p.m. ET trade deadline, but ultimately did not want to tinker too much with the league's best team and, alas, did not making any other transactions.
"I mean, you never really know what other teams are going to present when you get close to the deadline and there were some things that we were certainly contemplating," said Sweeney. "But we've had some moving parts over the last 10 days or so and we were aware that if we were to tinker any further that we were doing it for all the right reasons and that it really fit with us and not being disruptive.
"Obviously, Tyler has a chance to get into our lineup [Saturday] and get acclimated. We're very happy with how [Dmitry Orlov] and Garnet [Hathaway] have come in and been part of it. So, we were trying to be cognizant of all of that stuff."

Lauko Making Progress

Sweeney was highly complimentary of Jakub Lauko's play after the rookie's two-goal showing on Thursday night against the Sabres. The 22-year-old now has three tallies in 12 games for Boston this season, as well as 10 in 34 contests for Providence.
"He scored three goals last year, it was a tough year, he'd admit it," said Sweeney. "And you can see the confidence in himself now and the work that he's put in and it's an opportunity that he earned."
Boston's GM also had high praise for assistant general manager Jamie Langenbrunner, player development coordinator Adam McQuaid, and player development assistant Danielle Marmer for their work in helping to guide Lauko forward.
"It's really a credit to the development staff and that extends into Jamie Langenbrunner who has worked with him in Providence prior to this year and Adam talking about it and Danielle, and certainly the coaches in Providence deserve a lion's share of credit because they are working with those players each and every day, communicating with them and keeping their spirits, really up," said Sweeney.
"Jakub is a single example here, but there are several others. Coming off of last year, he would admit it, he never envisioned making our club coming out of camp. You got a new coach, a clean slate, and he went out and earned it and he earned his game [Thursday] and we go on from there. We'll see whether or not we're healthy enough [Saturday] that he might not get in the lineup, but he's put himself in the mix."

A Battle with the Blue Shirts

The Bruins will get their first look at the new-look New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Shirts added wingers Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko ahead of the trade deadline and appear poised for a deep playoff run as they battle for positioning in the Metropolitan Division.
Carolina leads the division with 86 points, one ahead of New Jersey and seven ahead of the Rangers, who are 35-18-9 with 79 points through 62 games. New York is coming off a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday and is 5-4-1 in its last 10 games.
"Yeah, I think it's exciting," said Montgomery. "I know from our point of view, we're excited to play the Rangers, Original Six, both teams that have beefed up for the playoff drive. It'll be another opportunity to see where we match up."

Wait, There's More

• Sweeney on the situation of defenseman Mike Reilly, who has spent the majority of the season in Providence due to cap issues: "Mike's frustrated and rightfully so, "said Sweeney. "He's certainly an NHL caliber player, he's helped us, he helped us at the start of this year, he helped us in the playoffs. This is our group now, so the message is, 'you're part of that group and at any given time, you know, knock on wood again, the injuries will come and you can step in and really play well.' And that's what we have to hold Mike to and he'll hold himself to. It could be anybody, it's not just Mike. Anybody that's on our roster now or in our organization has the ability to impact and help us win."
• Sweeney on Orlov's torrid start in Black & Gold: "Obviously, we're extremely happy, and I think he is as well in terms of how he's come in and earned the respect of everybody just from Day1. He just wanted to put his work boots on and come in and join a team. Now, he's won [a Stanley Cup in 2018 with the Capitals], so that automatically walks through the door and people are like, 'this guy wants to win again,' and you're seeing quickly, he scores goals and guys embrace and how genuinely excited he is for each and every one of his teammates. It says a lot about what he wants to accomplish as a hockey player and it's the things that we were hoping for."