In an effort to alleviate heavy cap constrictions this offseason, the Boston Bruins have traded All-Star and Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall, along with winger Nick Foligno, to the Blackhawks.
In return, the Bruins gained the negotiating rights to restricted free agents Alec Regula and Ian Mitchell.
Before the trade, Boston had less than $5 million in available space under the cap, but the team is set to lose as many as ten players to free agency. With significant holes to fill on the roster, the Bruins were forced to make some tough decisions on who would be shipped off just to be able to sign enough players to fill out a team.
That decision apparently resulted in Hall being sent from the best team in the regular season last year to one of the worst. Hall carries with him a $6 million cap hit, none of which is being retained by Boston. He immediately becomes the second-highest paid player on the Blackhawks’ books, behind only defenseman Seth Jones ($9.5 million).
Hall was drafted first overall by the Oilers in 2010. He tallied at least 38 points per year from 2010 to 2016, and earned All-Star honors in his rookie campaign. Hall was traded in the summer of 2016 to the Devils in exchange for Adam Larsson, and it was in New Jersey where his game got to the next level. In the 2017-18 season, he put up 93 points, earning himself the Hart Memorial Trophy. He was eventually traded to the Coyotes, where he spent one season before signing with the Sabres in 2020. At the trade deadline during that season, Hall was traded to the Bruins, who signed him to his current four-year, $24 million deal. Last season, he tallied 36 points in 61 games.
While Hall is a cap dump from the Bruins’ side, he has a chance to make a serious impact on his new team in Chicago. At age 31, he’s a proven winner, and can step in and help this young, inexperienced team learn to compete at the NHL level. Additionally, he can play alongside fellow first-overall pick Connor Bedard, serving as a calming veteran presence for the 17-year-old.
Nick Foligno is a 35-year-old winger who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent in July. He just completed his 16th season in the NHL, and has 525 points in 1,081 career games with four teams. Chicago will get a chance to sign him before free agency opens on July 1st, and could play as a depth piece while also adding plenty of experience.
Both Mitchell and Regula are restricted free agents, and it’s unclear what the Bruins plan to do with them. They aren’t likely to make a huge impact at the NHL level anytime soon. They were probably good pieces to get rid of for the Blackhawks, who currently have a logjam of sorts on the defensive end in their prospect pool.
There’s no guarantee that Hall still won’t be flipped before the season with the Blackhawks retaining some of his salary, but for now, Chicago is using its abundance of salary cap space perfectly, grabbing some big-name players to help lead the team back into contention while giving up very little in return. At the very least, Hall-to-Bedard highlight tapes should be fun to watch.
