In Boston, Hampus Lindholm is no rental.

The Bruins have not only acquired the former Ducks defenseman for a major haul ahead of the 2022 NHL trade deadline, but locked him up as a top-4 left-shot defenseman for the long-term. Boston officially announced an extension for Lindholm on Sunday, an eight-year deal worth $6.5 million annually.

Lindholm, 28, will be the Bruins' third-highest-paid player in the 2022-23 season, after Charlie McAvoy ($9.5M) and David Pastrnak ($6.7M). He projects as the Bruins' top defensive left-shot defenseman, a solid complement to McAvoy if not an excellent second-pairing guy, and one of their leading penalty killers.

Bruins GM Don Sweeney acknowledged in a press conference Sunday that the Bruins made the trade with the knowledge that Lindholm wanted to sign long-term, and that the two sides would quickly land on an agreement.

"I would be hard-pressed to think we were going to give away the assets and trade away the assets we did without the belief that we could enter into an extension," Sweeney said. "Obviously, the timing is difficult, and you've got to have some trust that your group's gonna find common ground after the fact. But we were confident that, in doing our due diligence, that this would be a place that Hampus would be excited to play in."

Boston acquired Lindholm and defenseman Kodie Curran from Anaheim on Saturday, in exchange for defensemen Urho Vaakanainen and John Moore, their first-round pick in 2022, and second-round picks in 2023 and 2024.

Lindholm expects to arrive in Boston on Monday, while the team is in Montreal to play the Canadiens, and make his Bruins debut on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Keep reading below, or click here, for more coverage of the Boston Bruins ahead of the 2022 NHL trade deadline here at 985TheSportsHub.com.

Matt Dolloff is a writer and podcaster for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Have a news tip, question, or comment for Matt? Yell at him on Twitter @mattdolloff and follow him on Instagram @mattydsays. You can also email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.

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The trade deadline itch finally got to Bruins general manager Don Sweeney on Saturday, as the Bruins made their first move ahead of Monday's deadline with the acquisition of left-shot defenseman Hampus Lindholm from the Anaheim Ducks.

It's the kind of home run swing the Bruins positioned themselves to make with what's been a white-hot 2022 calendar year to date, and was considered a borderline must entering a pivotal deadline for Sweeney and the Bruins.

And there's a whole lot to unpack as Lindholm makes his way to Boston.

If you're looking for a win off the bat: The Bruins addressed their dire need for a high-impact left-shot defenseman under 30 years old without having to part with top prospects Fabian Lysell and/or Mason Lohrei. That was going to downright impossible if the Bruins made a move for the Coyotes' Jakob Chychrun. Of course, there's about a five years age difference between Lindholm and Chychrun, so that obviously plays a factor in the talent leaving the door for the Black and Gold's organizational ranks, but the B's already-shallow prospect pool really didn't lose any water here.

When it comes to the picks out the door, well, that's the cost of doing business this deadline. The market first distorted when the Avalanche traded a second-round pick (and a prospect selected with a second-round pick) for the oft-injured Josh Manson, and then entered a true potential nightmare territory when the Panthers parted with a first-round pick for Ben Chiarot. Once that happened, it felt like any non-bandaid option for the Bruins (the B's always wanted a player they viewed as a potential long-term answer with any addition on the left side of their defense) was going to cost multiple first-round picks. It did not.

On the roster front, losing Urho Vaakanainen after the 2017 first-round pick finally showed signs of turning around a corner stings a bit. But replacing him with Lindholm is an upgrade for a win-now club like the Bruins, and Vaakanainen's injury woes didn't help. I first started to wonder if Vaakanainen was going to be dangled out there as a trade chip when Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy outright said 'nope' when asked if Vaakanainen would be thrown right back into the mix for the Bruins when fully healthy. Given the way Vaakanainen was beginning to excel prior to his injury, that felt oddly telling.

A huge inclusion from the B's point of view: John Moore. Stuck in a truly awful spot as a player who in theory is an NHL player but makes too much money for his role on his team (Moore was going to make $2.75 million as the B's eighth defenseman and that was just too rich for the B's blood this time around), Moore has spent the majority of the year in the AHL as a 'buried' contract for the Bruins. Sending him to Anaheim has opened $2.75 million up from the Bruins' books for 2022-23, or $1.625 million based off Moore's cap hit when buried to the minors. It's believed that getting the Ducks to take Moore's contract off the Bruins' hands is what earned Anaheim an extra second-round pick from the Bruins.

If there's one word that comes to mind when I think about Hampus Lindholm, it's dependable.

He's definitely not going to set YouTube on fire with an open-ice hit or finish near the top of the defensive scoring race (though his three-assist night against the B's earlier this year would tell you otherwise), but you're going to mostly get what you asked for with his 21 or so minutes per night. And that's something that this team's left side could definitely use.

It's been almost two calendar years since the Bruins decided to move on from Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug. And let's not get this twisted: They made that decision. Both players wanted to stay with the Bruins, but the B's wanted to try something new, either with lineup complexions or usage, or with their financials. And until Saturday's trade, the Bruins landed on Derek Forbort and Mike Reilly as their external replacements for their departures. Both players are perfectly fine in complementary roles, but as direct replacements for 40 minutes of top-four play? Well, that's a different story.

Lindholm, meanwhile, has been a legitimate top-four defenseman since the moment he made the NHL leap in 2013.

In 2021-22, the 28-year-old Lindholm had been asked to be the guiding hand for first-year NHLer Jamie Drysdale, with the duo together for over 900 minutes of five-on-five play this season. Their 918:34 of five-on-five together in 2021-22 is actually the fourth-most among all defensive pairings in the NHL this year, trailing only the Panthers' MacKenzie Weegar-Aaron Ekblad duo, Calgary's Noah Hanifin-Rasmus Andersson pairing, and the Rangers' K'Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba pair.

It's a pairing that went through its understandable growing pains, as the Ducks were outshot 474-455 and outscored 38-33 with Lindholm-Drysdale out there. But Lindholm has remained a steady penalty-killing threat for the Ducks, and is one of 70 defensemen to record at least 120 minutes on the kill this season. And Lindholm, who stands at 6-foot-4 and 216 pounds, has been on the ice for fifth-fewest power-play goals against per 60 among that group of 70, at 4.41.

Lindholm has some slight offensive punch to his game, too, with five goals and 22 points through 61 games this year. Those five goals would tie him with Brandon Carlo for second-most among all Boston blue liners this season (Charlie McAvoy leads all Boston defensemen on that front, with 8), and his 22 points would be second to only McAvoy and his defense-leading 40.

One potentially interesting stat for Lindholm? His 119 shots on goal. That ranked sixth among all Anaheim shooters this season, and is actually the 35th-most shots among all defensemen this season. The need for more offensive pressure from Boston defenders in 2021-22, especially when it comes to getting shots through traffic and on goal, has been mentioned repeatedly.

It's easy to look at Boston's depth chart and plug Lindholm next to Charlie McAvoy on Boston's top pairing. I think it stands to reason that that's how they'll line it up out of the gate. The Bruins are just so desperate to find that perfect pairing partner for McAvoy, and Lindholm certainly has the highest ceiling out of all the guys at their disposal. And some of the things that Lindholm does real well — zone-entry defense and puck retrieval, in particular — would allow McAvoy to truly take flight through the neutral zone and into the attacking zone at the rate that both he and the Bruins would prefer.

But I really wouldn't sleep on the possibility of Lindholm playing with Brandon Carlo on Boston's second pairing.

While the Bruins have searched for that perfect partner for McAvoy for obvious reasons, it's worth noting that McAvoy really hasn't let any partner take him underwater this season. Remember back in the day when the Bruins would put just about anybody next to Zdeno Chara and be OK with it? Yeah, McAvoy is basically already that kind of presence with the Bruins, and the numbers confirm that, with almost every pairing partner of his posting positive differentials over an extended stretch.

It's Boston's second pairing that's been an issue for large chunks of the 2021-22 season. Part of that comes back to what's been a bad luck season for Brandon Carlo, but just as much comes back to his inability to properly mesh with either Grzelcyk or Reilly to the point where the Bruins stop messing with that pair's complexion.

Lindholm has experience playing with someone a bit like Carlo, too, as he played almost exclusively with Josh Manson prior to Drysdale's full-time jump to the NHL.

Just something to ponder.

I'm not of the belief that the Bruins are a finished product just yet. I still think there's another trade or two to be made between Lindholm and Monday's 3 p.m. deadline. But when it comes to Boston defense, the Bruins now have four left-shot defensemen all deserving of playing time between Lindholm, Derek Forbort, Matt Grzelcyk, and Mike Reilly.

It seems that all three of the team's 'been here' defendes are polarizing depending on who you ask, but let's consider the following when it comes to 'em: Grzelcyk is a possession-driver that the Bruins can't really afford to sit given their lack of offensive firepower on the backend, Reilly has shown signs of progress when with McAvoy, and Forbort is the team's top penalty-killing defenseman (and for a kill that ranks 10th in the NHL). Again, all three deserve to play even with Lindholm here. For the Bruins, the simplest decision likely involves one of them to their off side. They've all done it before at various points (Grzelcyk has the largest sample of doing it under Cassidy), but Forbort may be the easiest fit to plug to the right side given his style of play and what the Bruins are going to ask out of him when out there.

It's a problem the Bruins, who routinely go 10 or 11 deep into their defensive bag in the postseason, will happily take.

Lindholm is going to be more than a rental for the Bruins. In fact, it took less than 24 hours for the sides to hammer out an eight-year extension north of $50 million, and good for a $6.5 million cap hit.

That slots Lindholm between Carlo's $4.1 million cap hit through 2026-27 and McAvoy's $9.5 million cap hit, which kicks in next year and runs through 2030. That locks the B's top-three defensive pillars in at $20.1 million per year for the next five seasons.

The next great challenge for Sweeney: Re-upping David Pastrnak, who is slated to hit unrestricted free agency in 2023.

For what felt like a billion seasons in a row, the Bruins had the second-line center, but needed the second-line winger.

Last year, they finally got the winger with their heist of Taylor Hall, and actually managed to keep Hall around on a four-year extension, only to lose the center with David Krejci's decision to leave the NHL for a return to the Czech Republic. Because of course. Why should any of us have nice things? Now, nobody within the locker room or organization faulted Krejci for leaving the Bruins. When you wanna go home, you go home. And he only told us about this plan about six years in advance.

But it did create one gigantic hole for the Bruins to fill on their second line.

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The Bruins did not address that in the offseason, and when training camp failed to produce a legitimate winner for that vacancy, the Bruins decided to tweak the line by pairing Hall with David Pastrnak on the second line. And with that combo needing a center, the Bruins tabbed Erik Haula as the man the middle of the that one-two winger punch. It's a combo that's worked, too, with the Bruins outshooting opponents 151-127 and outscoring them 14-10 in 278 five-on-five minutes together.

“I mean yeah, I guess until you have a better option to consider, right?" Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said earlier this week when asked about Haula 'cementing' his role as the team's second-line center."We’ve had other guys up there, [but] this seems to work the best for the team. He’s embraced it. Done a nice job away from the puck and a nice job in the circle, complementing those guys on the rush .. He seems to have relished that, so we’ll leave him there for now.”

It's a role that is somewhat familiar to Haula, too, as the Finnish centerman tallied a career-best 29 goals and 55 points as the Golden Knights' second-line center on their run to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.

But while this trio has worked, there's a natural belief that the Bruins may very well be a second-line center upgrade away from legitimate contention, and this trade market may very well have its share of options on that front.

So, who is and could be on the Bruins' radar between now and the upcoming trade deadline?

An under-the-radar option ahead of the 2022 trade deadline: Jets center Andrew Copp.

A do-it-all threat for Winnipeg, the 27-year-old Copp is on the market in the midst of a season that's included a career-high 20:05 per night, which ranks as the third-most among all Jet forwards, and makes Copp one of just 23 NHL forwards averaging at least 20 minutes per night in 2021-22. The 6-foot-1, 206-pound center has certainly made use of that ice time, too, with 13 goals and 32 points through 53 games, which has him paced for what would be a career-high 19 goals and 50 points. (Not tooooo shabby when you consider his previous career-high marks on both fronts, with 15 goals and 39 points last season.)

It's likely that a good chunk of the Bruins' interest in Copp, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, comes back to his status as a relatively complete player. Copp enters the weekend with the 24th-best faceoff percentage in the league (minimum 500 faceoffs), and has logged the sixth-most penalty kill time on ice among all forwards this season. With those numbers and that potential usage in mind for the Black and Gold, the Bruins would absolutely welcome Copp and his 54.4 defensive-zone faceoff percentage, which is the 16th-best in hockey.

If you're asking me who I believe in as the perfect rental for the Bruins, it's Claude Giroux. (Disclaimer: I'm an OG Giroux Fanboy and wish this guy spent his entire career in Boston, so there's that.) But even at 34 years old, this is still a highly productive player, with 17 goals and 41 points through 54 games. And the type of all-zone threat that makes him the perfect replacement for David Krejci and perfect complement to Patrice Bergeron as Boston's one-two punch down the middle.

An offensive threat throughout his career, Giroux has proven that he can still create and finish at an acceptable rate. He'd be asked to do both as the driver of Boston's second line with David Pastrnak and Taylor Hall.

But Giroux would also provide the Bruins with yet another downright dominant faceoff option.

While Bergeron ranks atop the NHL with a 62.2 faceoff percentage, Giroux sits right behind him, at 61.4 percent. Giroux has dominated draws in the defensive zone, too, at a league-best 64.2 percentage (Bergeron is right behind him there, at 61.5 percent), and is also top five in offensive-zone faceoff percentage and power-play faceoff percentage among qualifying threats. The ability to roll back-to-back lines with dominant faceoff options (equating to puck possession) and a grinding third line could be simply devastating in the playoffs.

Giroux would also come to town with significant playoff performance, with 85 career postseason appearances, and with his 73 playoff points the 23rd-most among all active NHLers.

Now, Giroux does possess a full no-movement clause, so the ball is entirely in his court. It's been tough for many to forecast where Giroux will go (if he goes at all between now and Mar. 21 deadline), and the Bruins have not been mentioned at the same rate as teams like the Avalanche and Panthers. That's understandable given their dominance this year, as well as the fact that Giroux would only leave Philly for a legitimate chance at a Stanley Cup given how much being a Flyer has meant to him.

But honestly, plugging Giroux between Hall and Pastrnak may be enough to make the B's legit as the rest.

This is perhaps the most interesting situation to watch between now and the deadline.

The word around the league is that the Sharks want to keep pending unrestricted free agent Tomas Hertl in San Jose. That's no surprise. Emerging as one of the better all-around centers in the league, Hertl has put up 23 goals and 44 points through 57 games this year, and has been a constant bright spot in a Sharks season that's short on 'em.

But if the sides can't pull a Chris Kreider-Rangers circa 2020 and come to terms on an extension before the deadline, the 28-year-old Hertl would be the top prize of the trade deadline, and the Bruins would be first in line. Because, boy, would Hertl solve a lot of their problems and in the future as a potential long-term to the impending doom that is the future of the center position once the 36-year-old Patrice Bergeron calls it quits.

Like Giroux, Hertl would immediately slot into the middle of the Black and Gold's second line with Hall and Pastrnak with absolutely no questions asked, and represent a clear upgrade over Haula given his takeover abilities.

The big question with acquiring a player like Hertl would be the price going out the door. This isn't a player the Bruins would be able to acquire for pennies on the dollar. This would be a top-dollar acquisition (and that's before you even hammer out an extension that could pay the Czech pivot as much as $8 million a year), and would likely test the Bruins' limits when it comes to parting with prospects they consider untouchable (Fabian Lysell and Mason Lohrei) as well as a future first-round pick.

The Canucks are in a real weird spot this deadline.

Since making the switch from Travis Green to Bruce Boudreau behind the bench in early December, the Canucks are a sizzlin' 21-8-5, and only five teams have posted a better point percentage (the Bruins are one of them, in case you're wondering). But even with that surge, the Canucks sit three points out third place in the Pacific Division and two points out of the second and final wild card spot in the Western Conference. Moneypuck's playoff probability model gives them a 25.4 percent chance of making the playoffs, and that's certainly understandable when looking at the teams in front of Vancouver. But when you've been that hot for 34 games, it's awfully hard to suddenly reverse course and decide that you wanna sell, no?

Now, let's throw in the J.T. Miller situation and make things real weird.

A gritty-but-talented center seemingly made for playoff play, the 28-year-old center signed through 2022-23 at a manageable $5.25 million cap hit has been brought up in trade rumors from the moment the Canucks struggled out of the gate this year, and is considered to have a potentially robust market. Miller's success — the 29-year-old's 69 points are the ninth-most in the NHL this year, while his 30 power-play points trail only Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid for the most in the NHL — would create an obvious bidding war this deadline, and the Bruins would be stupid not to get involved.

That said, Miller himself doesn't believe that he's going to be traded.

“I don’t think I’m getting traded," Miller said earlier this week. "I never thought I was getting traded. Everybody is speculating, so I never even looked into that [the Canucks] were trying to trade me to begin with.”

Reading between the lines here, getting the Canucks, who are facing a slight cap crunch of sorts up ahead, to bite on a Miller trade would require a good ol' fashioned hockey trade.

Those have been rare under this leadership in Boston.

Not a sexy pick by any stretch, it's fair to wonder if Jack Roslovic would be considered an option for the Bruins if they're priced out of, well, just about everybody else this deadline.

A 25-year-old right-shot center, Roslovic hasn't exactly thrived with his move from Winnipeg to his hometown Blue Jackets, with 22 goals and 60 points in 106 games with Columbus.The 2021-22 season has been an especially trying one for Roslovic, as Roslovic has averaged his lowest nightly time on ice (12:24) since 2018-19, and has struggled to find his fit under new Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen.

But for the Bruins, Roslovic, who is a pending restricted free agent making a hair over $1.8 million this year, may be a potentially perfect return if they want to go with a change of scenery for change of scenery swap involving Jake DeBrusk by the deadline.

It's unlikely that Roslovic is a long-term answer at center, of course, but he would give the Bruins another right-handed faceoff option, with Charlie Coyle and Curtis Lazar currently the only two on the roster right now. And his ability to also play right wing (arguably where he played his best hockey in Columbus) only adds value to a potential Boston fit.

This isn't the first time we've talked about Dylan Strome. When word of Jake DeBrusk's trade request went public, and with the Blackhawks among those mentioned as potentially interested in DeBrusk, a potential Strome-for-DeBrusk swap just seemed to make sense for both sides, especially with Strome's name also in the rumor mill around that time. But Strome has since found his footing this season, and has tallied 12 goals and 24 points in 26 games since the start of January. Strome’s contract and his obvious fit between Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane, two players that certainly figure in the Blackhawks’ future plans even with the Hawks approaching an obvious rebuild, only further complicates Strome’s status.

The No. 3 overall pick 2015 NHL Draft (a.k.a the first player taken after the Connor McDavid-Jack Eichel one-two), the 6-foot-3 Strome has tallied 60 goals and 153 points in 250 career games between the Coyotes and Blackhawks since 2016.

Similar to a guy like Roslovic (and maybe Copp to a lesser degree), perhaps the Bruins circle to Chicago and inquire on Strome should the asking price for the top-tier targets prove to be a little too high for 'em this deadline.

The 2022 trade deadline is officially one week away and the Bruins remain a team with more than a few needs.

Fortunately for them, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney is no stranger to deadline deals. In fact, the trade deadline has proved to be Sweeney's busiest time of year on the job, with 13 different trades made on or around the trade deadline (over six deadlines in all) since Sweeney took over for Peter Chiarelli in 2015.

Sweeney's moves have ranged from depth moves to home run swings, and there's a legit case to be made that the Bruins need both ahead of this year's deadline. From a potentially glaring second-line hole to a freakishly-thin depth chart on the right side of their defense, Sweeney's deadline resume should probably featured at least two deals by this time week.

But what does his deadline history tell us about what's ahead of the Bruins?

Trade: Bruins acquire winger Lee Stempniak from Devils in exchange for 2016 fourth-round pick and 2017 second-round pick.

Bruins record when acquired: 34-23-6 (third in Atlantic Division, seven points above ninth place).

Sweeney's first crack at addressing the Black and Gold's constant need for help on the wings, Stempniak was brought to the Bruins in the midst of a Jersey run that included 16 goals and 41 points in 63 games. In Boston, Stempniak put up three goals and 10 points over 19 games, as the Bruins went 8-8-3 to finish the year and finished a tiebreaker short of the postseason.

Trade: Bruins acquire defenseman John-Michael Liles from Hurricanes in exchange for forward Anthony Camara, 2016 third-round pick, and 2017 fifth-round pick.

Bruins record when acquired: 34-23-6 (third in Atlantic Division, seven points above ninth place).

A depth defenseman pickup, Liles put up six assists in 17 games with the Bruins to round out the 2016 stretch run, and re-upped with the B’s on a one-year deal for the 2016-17 season.

Trade: Bruins acquire winger Drew Stafford from Jets in exchange for conditional sixth-round pick in 2018.

Bruins record when acquired: 33-24-6 (second in Atlantic Division, four points above ninth place).

Another attempt at addressing the team's middle-six scoring woes, Stafford was a worthwhile addition for the Bruins, with four goals and eight points in 18 games with the Bruins. That sixth-round pick turned to a fifth-round pick sent to Winnipeg (and later landing in Nashville) when the Bruins clinched a playoff spot. Stafford would score two goals in six playoff games with the Bruins, and spent the final two years of his NHL career with the Devils. He's also the only Bruins player to appear in an Every Time I Die music video, though that came during his Buffalo tenure.

Trade: Bruins acquire defenseman Nick Holden from Rangers in exchange for defenseman Rob O'Gara and 2018 third-round pick.

Bruins record when acquired: 36-13-8 (second place in Atlantic Division, one point out of first place).

The first move of what has been Sweeney's busiest deadline of his general managing career, the Bruins brought Nick Holden to town as a third-pairing stabilizer. A 6-foot-4 left-shot defenseman, Holden tallied one goal and five points in 18 games with the B's, and appeared in two postseason games with the team. Holden has since bounced between Vegas and Ottawa.

Trade: Bruins trade winger Frank Vatrano to Panthers for 2018 third-round pick

Bruins record when traded: 37-13-8 (second place in Atlantic Division, one point out of first place).

A space-making move for the Bruins, Sweeney recouped the third-round pick he lost in the Holden deal by sending Frank Vatrano to the Panthers. Vatrano has stuck with the Panthers, too, and tallied 71 goals and 124 points in 269 games with Florida over the last five seasons. The Bruins later used that third-round pick to draft Jakub Lauko.

Trade: Bruins acquire winger Rick Nash from Rangers in exchange for forward Ryan Spooner, winger Matt Beleskey, defenseman Ryan Lindgren, 2018 first-round pick, and 2019 seventh-round pick.

Bruins record when acquired: 37-14-8 (third place in Atlantic Division, five points out of first place).

Sweeney's first try at a big home run swing, the Bruins sent out five pieces in exchange for Nash, and No. 61 finished with three goals and six points in 11 regular-season appearances, and added three goals and five points in 12 playoff games. A concussion suffered on a high hit from the Lighting’s Cedric Paquette interrupted and derailed Nash’s Boston run, and ultimately forced Nash to retire at the end of the season. The trade will always be one of the biggest 'what if' scenarios involving this core, as both Nash and the B's were interested in a potential long-term partnership.

Trade: Bruins acquire winger Tommy Wingels from Blackhawks in exchange for conditional fifth-round pick in 2019.

Bruins record when acquired: 37-15-8 (third place in Atlantic Division, five points out of first place).

A depth move at the deadline, Wingels scored two goals and five points in 18 games with the B’s, and appeared in four postseason games. The conditional fifth-round pick the B's sent to Chicago in that deal ultimately became a fourth when the Bruins advanced to the second round of the playoffs. Wingels had a direct hand in that, too, as he absorbed the hit that got the Leafs' Nazem Kadri suspended for three games in the middle of the first round.

Trade: Bruins acquire center Charlie Coyle from Wild in exchange for winger Ryan Donato and 2019 fifth-round pick.

Bruins record when acquired: 35-17-8 (second place in Atlantic Division, 18 points out of first place).

Certainly the most impactful trade of the Sweeney era in terms of its direct impact on a long playoff run, the Bruins made out like bandits when they acquired Coyle from the Wild in exchange for Ryan Donato and a late-round pick. Slotted behind Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci on the B's center depth chart, Coyle excelled as a puck-possession pivot, and racked up nine goals and 16 points in 24 playoff games for the Bruins on the way to the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. His nine goals were tied for the most on the team, while his 16 points were the fifth-most among all B's.

Trade: Bruins acquire winger Marcus Johansson from Devils in exchange for 2019 second-round pick and 2020 fourth-round pick.

Bruins record when acquired: 36-17-9 (second place in Atlantic Division, 17 points out of first place).

Originally acquired to skate to the right of David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk on Boston's second line, Johansson's best fit ultimately came on the B's third line with Charlie Coyle and Danton Heinen. The Swedish wing put up one goal and three points in 10 regular season games with the Bruins, and added four goals and 11 points in 22 playoff games.

Johansson has played for the Sabres, Wild, and Kraken since leaving the Bruins as a free agent in 2019, and could very well be on the move again this deadline with the Kraken out of contention.

Trade: Bruins acquire winger Ondrej Kase from Ducks in exchange for forward David Backes, defenseman Axel Andersson, and 2020 first-round pick.

Bruins record when acquired: 38-11-12 (first place in Atlantic Division, three points above second place).

The Bruins tried to make their best out of a garbage situation when they had to attach a first-round pick to rid themselves of the David Backes contract. Rather than just dumping him with the pick and moving on in the name of cap space after Backes' role entered an uncomfortable territory for the Bruins and led to the veteran landing on waivers, the Bruins ditched Backes but took a chance on the oft-injured Ondrej Kase in the process.

But after Kase had a stop-and-start jump into life with the Bruins in a COVID-interrupted 2020 campaign, the Czech wing's concussion woes return and limited Kase to just three games during the 2021 season.

The Bruins ultimately decided not to extend a qualifying offer to Kase and let him walk to the Maple Leafs, where he's battled injuries but been productive when healthy, with 12 goals and 25 points in 47 games this season.

Trade: Bruins acquire winger Nick Ritchie from Ducks in exchange for forward Danton Heinen.

Bruins record when acquired: 39-12-12 (first place in Atlantic Division, five points above second place).

A 'change of scenery' trade for both Ritchie and Heinen, the Bruins thought that adding the big-bodied Ritchie would help the team score some of the more dirty, high-danger area postseason goals that the team struggled to produce when going up against bigger defenses. And though Ritchie's 2020 fit with the Bruins proved to be a troubling one, Ritchie bounced back in 2021 with a career-high 15 goals and five power-play goals and 7th Player Award honors.

But the Bruins ultimately decided not to bring Ritchie back for another round after a disappointing 2021 playoff run, and Ritchie landed with the Maple Leafs on a two-year, $5 million deal. That deal turned out to be a disaster for all involved, really, as Ritchie would fail to fit on the Leafs' top line and score just two goals in 33 games with Toronto before the team waived him, and ultimately sent him to Arizona in a cap-clearing move.

Heinen, meanwhile, would score just 10 goals and eight assists in 52 games with the Ducks, but has since rebounded with the Penguins, with 13 goals and 24 points through 54 games this season.

Trade: Bruins acquire defenseman Mike Reilly from Senators in exchange for 2022 third-round pick.

Bruins record when acquired: 21-12-6 (fourth in East Division, four point above fifth place).

When the Bruins' decision to go with a youth movement and walk away from Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug failed to pan out the way the Bruins envisioned, Sweeney made a call to Ottawa and swung a deadline deal for Mike Reilly. An underrated puck-moving threat, Reilly put up eight assists in 15 games with the Bruins to close out the regular season, and added another four helpers in 11 postseason games.

The Bruins ultimately kept Reilly around on a three-year, $9 million extension, and are currently playing him next to Charlie McAvoy on the Black and Gold's top defensive pairing.

Trade: Bruins acquire winger Taylor Hall and forward Curtis Lazar from Sabres in exchange for winger Anders Bjork and 2021 second-round pick.

Bruins record when acquired: 21-12-6 (fourth in East Division, four point above fifth place).

Aided greatly by the fact that Taylor Hall had a full no-movement clause and made it clear that he wanted to go to Boston, the Hall-to-Boston trade remains Sweeney's greatest deadline heist as the B's general manager. Finally solving the team's never-ending quest to acquire that high-ceiling second-line wing, Hall was productive and immediately bought in on what the Bruins were selling him, and has since emerged as a core piece for the team.

The Bruins also acquired valuable fourth-line piece Curtis Lazar in that deal, while Anders Bjork has put up seven goals and 12 points in 66 games with the Sabres.

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