The Boston Bruins got the blue line help they were looking for ahead of the NHL trade deadline. On Thursday, Boston completed a 3 team deal with Washington and Minnesota which will see the Bruins acquire defeseman Dmitry Orlov and forward Garnet Hathaway.
Heading back the other way to Washington is a 2023 1st round pick, a 2025 2nd round pick, and a 2024 3rd round selection. Forward Craig Smith will also join the Capitals who will in turn pick up 50% of Orlov’s $5.1M cap hit.
The Wild also utilized their cap space to acquire another late round selection, retaining 25% of Orlov’s salary, and trading Andrei Svetlakov to the Bruins in exchange for a 2023 5th rounder.
Orlov, 31, is in the final year of his deal with the Capitals and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. The Russian blue liner has recorded 19pts (3G, 16A) across 43 contests this season.
A 10 year NHL veteran, Orlov has spent his entire NHL career in DC after being selected 55th overall in the 2009 NHL entry draft. The Novokuznetsk native has 74 games worth of playoff experience under his belt and was a key contributor in the Capitals 2018 Stanley Cup championship.
His teammate, Hathaway is also set to become a UFA at the end of the season, but will provide Boston with some bottom 6 depth along the wing. Despite recording only 16pts (9G, 7A) in 59 games this year, the 31 year old isn’t afraid to do the little things teams covet in the postseason as evidenced by his 65 blocked shots and 198 hits.
Boston and Washington are two franchises headed in polar opposite directions at the moment. While the Bruins boast the league’s best record at 43-8-5, the Caps have been in free fall since the turn of the calendar, dropping their last 6 contests.
Once squarely in the mix for a playoff spot, Washington has taken a nosedive in the standings resulting in their switch from a buyers mentality to a team likely to ship out pieces ahead of the March 3rd deadline.
Boston had been deep in negotiations with the Columbus Blue Jackets regarding 27 year old defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, however they were unable to make the financial side of the deal work.
As talks broke down, GM Don Sweeney then switched his attention to Orlov and a deal quickly came together.
The Bruins are next in action Thursday at 10pm ET against the Seattle Kraken.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.