The Bruins' decision to acquire this forward is undoubtedly paying off.
During this past season, the Boston Bruins acquired forward Marat Khusnutdinov from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Justin Brazeau. The Bruins also brought back Jakub Lauko in the deal, but he is now playing overseas. Brazeau is also no longer in Minnesota, as he signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins this past offseason.
Khusnutdinov is still a Bruin, though, and there is no question that the Black and Gold are benefiting from that.
Khusnutdinov has taken a notable step forward with his development this season and has emerged as a key part of the Bruins' forward group because of it. In 65 games this season with the Bruins, the 23-year-old forward has recorded new career highs with 14 goals, 16 assists, and 30 points. He also has a plus-14 rating at this point in the season.
With numbers like these, there is no question that Khusnutdinov has been providing the Bruins with solid secondary offensive production this campaign. Furthermore, with Khusnutdinov still being so young, he has the potential to improve further as he continues to gain experience.
With this, there is no question that the Bruins made a very smart move bringing in Khusnutdinov from the Wild this past season. It is hard not to like what the Bruins have gotten from him this campaign, and it will be intriguing to see how he performs down the stretch from here.