I have to admit that when I first heard of the trade made between the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks, I kind of panicked a bit because I, at first blush, thought we may have traded some draft picks to Boston for….what?
Boston has almost no picks in this year’s draft, so the idea of them looking to get some, even if in the second round, made sense. And the Hawks have four picks in the second round, to go with two in the first, and a bunch more in the later rounds. So that made it a good fit. The question was, for me, what could Chicago possibly get from Boston that would in any way be attractive? It just didn’t make sense that way.
As it turned out, it was almost a straight hockey trade, featuring two players for two players, no picks involved whatsoever. The Hawks get Taylor Hall (what????) and the signing rights to impending free agent Nick Foligno in exchange for the signing rights to minor leaguers Ian Mitchell and Alex Regula, both impending restricted free agents. So what was this all about?
As a rebuilding team, Chicago would usually have no interest in obtaining a player with two years left on a $6 million/year salary. And Foligno, if he wants to chase a cup somewhere, may not even sign, since that’s not going to happen in Chicago any time soon, Bedard or no Bedard. So what’s in it for these two teams?
First, Boston gets cap relief, as they were right up against the ceiling of the cap and had little room for manoeuvre to sign any of their own free agents or RFA’s. Sending Hall, a former #1 overall pick in 2010 saves them that six million, and may allow the Bruins to sign Todd Bertuzzi, something they’d love to do. And if they come to terms with either Mitchell or Regula, they would have a player or two making not much more than the league minimum and still in their early twenties.
Chicago is a big winner here.
They need to get to the cap floor before the season starts, and having Hall’s $6 million on the books will help them get to that threshold. Also, they could offer Foligno a contract with more money that anyone else might offer, again with the goal of getting to the cap floor. In Hall, we get an offensive goal-scoring winger to play with Bedard and, being a former first overall pick himself, might help Bedard transition more easily to the NHL. It’s interesting that Hall has played for two teams, Edmonton and New Jersey, that had two first-overall picks while he played there. And in Arizona and Buffalo he was surrounded by high draft picks as well. So, in that sense, despite being a really good player and former league MVP, Hall has seen a lot of talent find its legs in the big leagues, and helping Bedard along would be consistent with that.
If Foligno were to sign in Chicago, the Hawks would be getting a bona-fide leader on the ice and in the room. He was captain in Columbus for six years until traded to Toronto for the playoffs in 2020 and then signing with Boston. He’s also as tough as nails, providing a little bit of insulation for Bedard and the other young talent that’s going to start showing up in the next couple of years.
In two years, as their (Hall and Foligno) contracts expire, the Blackhawks will be a much better team, and getting close to the time when they have to start paying their emerging players more money than their entry-level contracts. Could you imagine what Connor Bedard’s second contract might look like? So, in that scenario, Chicago has options. Let both Hall and Foligno walk and save about $10 million in cap space, or trade one or both at the deadline for more picks in the future, while still saving the $10 million.
This has win written all over it for Chicago. And for Boston, it represents a salary dump to a team that can afford to absorb Hall’s contract.
So, in short, I like it!
NEWSMAGRENFREW 