In what essentially amounts to a salary dump, the Boston Bruins are sending former Hart trophy winner Taylor Hall and the rights to Nick Foligno to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Coming back Boston’s way are pending restricted free agents Alec Regula and Ian Mitchell. While on paper, the move skews heavily in Chicago’s favour, the deal will ultimately clear roughly $6M in salary off Boston’s books for this season, allowing the club to address other areas of their roster this summer.
Regula appeared in only 4 games with Chicago in 2022-23, but posted 21pts (5G, 16A) across 51 contests with their AHL affiliate Rockford. A native of Bloomfield, MI, the 22 year old blue liner is a former 3rd pick of the Detroit Red Wings back in 2018.
Meanwhile, fellow defenseman Ian Mitchell saw 35 games of NHL action last season, recording 8pts (1G, 7A) for Chicago. The 24 year old is a former University of Denver standout, helping the Pioneers to capture the 2017 NCAA title as a freshman.
The deal marks the 4th trade Hall has been a part of since joining the NHL ranks. The former 1st overall selection suffered a down year by his lofty standards in 2022-23, recording 36pts (16G, 20A) with the Bruins, making his $6M AAV cap hit, a luxury Boston could no longer afford.
Hall will likely be expected to help mentor Connor Bedard once Chicago makes him the first name called on draft night this week in Nashville. While the Blackhawks are still a ways away from being a contender, adding Hall and Bedard to their roster will at least form the basis of a top line to ease the young phenom’s transition into the NHL.
A salary dump allows Boston to make a run at signing UFA forward Tyler Bertuzzi, whom the team acquired near the trade deadline last year. Bertuzzi, 28, recorded 16pts (4G, 12A) across the final 21 games of the regular season, but broke out during Boston’s shorter than anticipated postseason run. There, the former 2nd round pick registered 10pts (5G, 5A) in 7 games against the Florida Panthers.
With additional financial flexibility, Boston can also address pending RFA Jeremy Swayman’s impending deal as he will be due for a pay raise this summer as well. The 24 year old netminder captured the Jennings trophy as part of the NHL’s best goaltending tandem alongside teammate Linus Ullmark.
NHL free agency officially begins on July 1st at 12pm ET.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Osport.tv . This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.