The 2023 NHL offseason is now in full swing. While it’s been a quiet few weeks since the Stanley Cup Final ended, chaos is back on the menu as teams gear up for the upcoming draft and start of free agency.
On Monday, the Boston Bruins dealt Taylor Hall to the Chicago Blackhawks in a shake up for both sides. The Blackhawks are set to pick No. 1 overall in Wednesday’s draft while the Bruins are coming off a historic regular season that ended in disaster after a first-round exit.
MORE NHL: Predicting the top-5 picks at the 2023 NHL Draft.
Hall was quite the important piece in the Bruins’ regular season success, but given the implications of the deal, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Boston has moved on. With the 2023 NHL Draft just a few days away — and with more moves still to come — let’s take a look at how the Bruins and the Blackhawks grade out in this trade.
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The details
Compared to some of the previous trades we’ve seen this month, this deal between the Bruins and Blackhawks is as simple as it gets.
- Blackhawks get: F Taylor Hall, F Nick Foligno (UFA rights until July 1)
- Bruins get: D Ian Mitchell, D Alec Regula
And that’s it!
Chicago Blackhawks
Blackhawks grade: B+
Taylor Hall may not be the player he once was in his prime, but he’s still an incredibly useful and talented forward. Last year with the Bruins, Hall posted 16 goals and 36 points in 61 games for a Boston club that ended up becoming the best regular season team in NHL history. Hall has had a long and complicated history in hockey after being the No. 1 overall pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2010, but has won a Hart Trophy after scoring 39 goals and 93 points in 2017-18.
The Blackhawks are going to be a bad team by design next season, even with Hall’s help. The real reason Chicago made this deal, however, is to put Hall on Connor Bedard’s wing to help bolster the offense around the likely No. 1 overall pick. While the Blackhawks will still likely be a bottom-of-the-barrel team next season, having Hall setting up Bedard on the top line isn’t a bad way to start a new era in Chicago.
As for Foligno, the Blackhawks reportedly want to sign the pending UFA before he hits the market on July 1. Chicago needs NHL caliber bodies on their roster and Foligno fits the bill here nicely. We’ll have to see if the Blackhawks can sign Foligno before he hits free agency later this week.
Boston Bruins
Bruins grade: B+
Hall may be the more proven player of the pair, but this move signifies that the Bruins are looking to re-sign the younger Tyler Bertuzzi before free agency opens on Saturday. With moving Hall off their books, Boston has nearly $11 million in cap space and could very well use that money to re-sign UFAs like Bertuzzi, Patrice Bergeron or Dmitry Orlov.
There’s also the possibility the Bruins will use this new-found cap space to reunite with Torey Krug in a trade with St. Louis. Recently, Krug’s name has popped up in trade rumors with the Philadelphia Flyers, but talks have seemingly stalled after the defenseman reportedly invoked his no-trade clause.
Mitchell and Regula are two prospects with potential, but the biggest thing the Bruins gain here with this trade is some much-needed cap space. In total, this deal is a nice win for both sides.
