Well, here we are, rolling into the dog days of summer, where the only sport on is the MLB, and you find yourself watching Sports Center for the 4th consecutive hour waiting for any non baseball related news. But today, we got some news out of the NHL world.
The Boston Bruins needed to clear some cap space and found a willing participant in the Chicago Blackhawks. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Taylor Hall will be traded to the Blackhawks; no details yet on the return. Darren Dreger of TSN adds that Nick Foligno will also be included in the move.
This comes the week of the 2023 NHL Draft, when the Blackhawks are expected to select C Connor Bedard with the first overall pick. Hall, 31, has two years remaining on his contract worth an average annual value of $6 million. Hall had 16 goals and 36 points in 61 games for the Bruins last season, and added eight points in seven playoff games.
After being a part of the best regular season team in history, moving to Chicago is a significant downgrade for Hall. He isn’t joining an organization completely bereft of talent, though, however, he may even get to play with Connor Bedard, depending on how things shake out.
The Bruins found themselves in a precarious situation with just a few days before free agency opens. They are interested in bringing back trade deadline acquisition Tyler Bertuzzi, but needed to clear cap before working out any deal. It will be interesting to see if they can close the gap and keep Bertuzzi in the fold once Hall is officially off the books.
Sucks for Hall man. It seems like every time he gets moved to a contender, they fall short, and then he is traded before they get a chance to run it back. Only to get moved to a bottom tier team, in which he then gets moved at the following years trade deadline back to a contender. A tale as old as time.