Bruins acquire Andrew Peeke from Blue Jackets

The Boston Bruins made another move on Friday, as they acquired Andrew Peeke from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for defenseman Jakub Zboril.

The move accomplishes one thing on the Bruins' wish list for the trade deadline, and that is shoring up their defensive depth, something that was severely lacking going into Friday's trade deadline.

One thing that Peeke also brings to Boston's roster is just the fact that he adds another right-handed defenseman to the roster, and gives the Bruins more time to develop more powerful weapons like Mason Lohrei if they feel the need to.

Through five years with the Blue Jackets, Peeke has played in 218 games where he has scored 10 goals, and tallied 32 assists (42 points).

Peeke had his best seasons in 2021-22, and 2022-23, when he played a combined 162 games. He also set a career-high in goals in 2022-23 with six, and assists in 2021-22 with 13. Both were career-highs for points with 15 (in 2021-22) and 13 (in 2022-23).

He's not the best offensively, why did they bring him in?

What Peeke lacks in offensive stats, he makes up for in leadership qualities, puck vision, and an ability to skate to the right areas. In three years at the University of Notre Dame, he was named captain in his junior season where he set career-highs for the Fighting Irish in points (24) and assists (21).

What Boston will look to extract out of Peeke is his defensive prowess, something that the Bruins have severely lacked this season with most of their defensemen being either two-way defensemen who can play both ends of the puck or are exclusively trying to get into every play by the net.

Peeke is a defense-first defenseman, will look to extract his ability to get to the dirty areas behind his own net to help set up his guys down the ice.