Bruins
The Bruins add a pair of bottom-six skaters with pace in Lauko and Khusnutdinov.
Boston Bruins right wing Justin Brazeau (55) celebrates after scoring against the Detroit Red Wings during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Detroit.
Justin Brazeau is heading to Minnesota. AP Photo/Duane Burleson
The Boston Bruins are continuing to reshuffle their roster ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.
The Bruins announced on Thursday night that they have traded forward Justin Brazeau to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for forwards Jakub Lauko and Marat Khusnutdinov.
Boston also received its own 2026 sixth-round pick back from Minnesota — which it initially dealt away last year in a trade-deadline deal centered around Pat Maroon.
The move comes two days after the Bruins started their mid-season retool by trading Trent Frederic to the Edmonton Oilers for a package headlined by a 2025 second-round pick.
By moving on from a pending free agent in Brazeau, the Bruins were able to augment their bottom-six grouping with a pair of high-pace forwards in Lauko and Khusnutdinov.
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Lauko is no stranger to the Bruins, as he was originally drafted by the Bruins in 2018 and spent his first two NHL seasons with Boston in 2022-24.
The 24-year-old forward was traded by Boston in June 2024 to the Wild — where he eventually scored three goals and posted six points over 39 games with Minnesota.
A pugnacious fourth-line forward who can skate well and is more than willing to drop the gloves, Lauko should slot in as a checking-line regular for Boston moving forward. Lauko is a pending RFA entering this offseason.
The Bruins are hoping to tap into Khusnutdinov’s upside in Boston — with the 22-year-old Russian forward putting together solid numbers as a young player in the KHL overseas before making the trek over to North America.
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Despite Khusnutdinov’s steady production against KHL competition and his standing as a former second-round pick (37th overall, 2020), the 5-foot-11 center has not put it all together so far in the NHL ranks.
Khusnutdinov has appeared in 57 games with the Wild this season, scoring two goals and posting seven points while averaging 11:14 of ice time per contest. He has scored three goals and 11 points in 73 total games in the NHL.
While his game has stagnated this season with Minnesota, the initial projections for Khusnutdinov was for him to develop into a dependable two-way pivot at the NHL level.
“The Wild envision Khusnutdinov developing into a middle-six center and think he is ready for the NHL,” The Athletic’s Michael Russo wrote about Khusnutdinov after he signed with the Wild in February 2024. “He has 162 regular-season games and 32 playoff games of experience in a men’s league and plays a mature, 200-foot game. He’s versatile enough to play up and down the lineup, is solid away from the puck, is very fast, a ball of energy, a 50 percent faceoff guy in the KHL and has the skill to make plays.”
The Athletic’sScott Wheeler tabbed Khusnutdinov as the Wild’s No. 7 prospect in his latest ranking of Minnesota’s pipeline last month. Khusnutdinov will also be an RFA at the end of this season.
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One of the few pleasant surprises on Boston’s roster to start this season, the big-bodied Brazeau’s standing as a trade chip began more and more tangible as the Bruins’ playoff hopes started to dwindle.
With Brazeau due for a raise as a pending UFA, the Bruins opted to move on from the 27-year-old winger — who has scored 10 goals and 20 points in 57 games over his first full season in the NHL.
Despite a strong start this season, Brazeau’s play had tailed off over the last few months — with the netfront presence limited to zero goals and just two assists over his last 17 games.
Profile image for Conor Ryan
Conor Ryan
Sports Writer
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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