Forward Acquired At Deadline Could Be Bruins’ Free Agent Recruiter

BOSTON — The Bruins made a slew of difficult, yet necessary, changes at the trade deadline in March to help build the franchise for the future.

Marat Khusnutdinov was a bit of a mystery to the Black and Gold faithful when the Bruins acquired him along with Jakub Lauko and a 2026 sixth-round pick that originally was theirs from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for forward Justin Brazeau.

The 22-year-old Russian forward made an immediate impact upon joining Boston by tallying two goals in his first four games donning the Spoked-B. And even though it was a rather small sample size of 18 games, the restricted free agent expressed his desire to sign an extension with the Bruins.

“So happy. Yeah, so happy,” he told reporters at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday. “Perfect organization, good city.”

Perfect organization? That is exactly how Khusnutdinov felt and described being traded to Boston.

“Perfect. The guys helped me. Our coaches helped me,” he said. “Feels great here. It’s a little bit of a different system. It’s so fast. It’s good hockey. Good trainers and players which is everything.

“It’s not a perfect season. Not a great season for me, but glad to be here. It’s a good city, good fans, good organization.”

Having fellow Russian native Nikita Zadorov in the locker room certainly helped Khusnutdinov. The veteran defenseman assisted Khusnutdinov in relocating all of his belongings from Minnesota to Boston.

Zadorov completed his first season with Boston after signing a six-year, $30 million contract with the Bruins in the offseason. The 6-foot-6, 250-pounder believes coming to Boston would be a no-brainer for any free agent.

“Why would they not want to come here? I mean, it’s an Original Six team. It’s a great city to play in,” he said. “We have one of the best players in the world. We have one of the best goalies in the world. We have two really good defensemen who were out pretty much for a whole year. We have all the pieces for the future. We just need to add it up. We have a breakout player of the year, probably. So, I mean, it’s a great organization, great management, great leadership up top.”

The Bruins may want to consider using Zadorov and Khusnutdinov as recruiters when free agency begins on July 1.