When the Bruins announced Thursday morning that they had acquired fiery winger Tyler Bertuzzi, it seemed like another domino was about to fall.
Boston may have coveted Bertuzzi’s explosive playing style and tendency to run the puck in grade-A snow. But despite Detroit retaining 50 percent of its $4.75 million cap hit, Boston didn’t have the financial flexibility to bring in its new pickup.
Shortly after Thursday’s deal was completed, Boston created needed cap space. But it came at a significant cost.
To pick up Bertuzzi’s contract, the Bruins placed Taylor Hall on long-term injured reserve—temporarily allowing Boston to exceed the league’s $82.5 million cap ceiling until he was cleared to return.
Fellow bottom-six winger Nick Foligno also landed on the shelf, with Boston placing him on injured reserve after suffering a lower-body injury during Tuesday’s win over the Flames.
Hall, who played 13:28 ice time in Boston’s win over the Canucks on Saturday, went back to Boston to undergo further testing. Although Jim Montgomery noted at the time that the team did not expect Hall to be out for long, it is clear that such an estimate has changed after further testing.
“Unfortunately, the news we got was a little discouraging,” Don Sweeney said of both Hall and Foligno on Thursday morning.
Given the uncertain availability of both Hall and Foligno moving forward, Boston’s deal with Detroit came together quickly.
Sweeney said, “In terms of injury to both Taylor and Nicky, yeah, it took a real unfortunate turn for us.” “There is no timeline for either of those players as to when they are going to be available to us. … But it did create a situation for us. And we felt we had to fill a hole.”
With Hall on LTIR, the Bruins will remain in line with the cap, although he remains under that designation.
If Hall were to be activated before the end of the regular season, Boston would have to free up a decent chunk of cap space to remain compliant once again. But based on Sweeney’s comments, it doesn’t look like a March or early April return will be in the cards for Hall or Foligno.
“I don’t think it is at this point. But it can’t be ruled out,” Sweeney said of Hall and Foligno’s possible surgery. “Again, our doctors are going to be making long-term medical decisions for him. This is not a short-term situation.
“So we have time and really allow it to play out. … We’ve got six weeks to get to the playoffs. It’s unlikely we’ll see one of those between now and then. But again, determined To do. I don’t think anything is off the table. But it’s up to the medical staff.
One thing to note is that once the post-season kicks in, the Bruins will no longer be required to remain cap-compliant. If Hall or Foligno are given the green light to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs, they can rejoin the active roster without worrying about contract implications.
The Lightning utilized that LTIR loophole during the 2020–21 season with star winger Nikita Kucherov. After undergoing hip surgery in the offseason, Kucherov was placed on LTIR for the entire regular season, which allowed Tampa Bay to easily exceed the cap ceiling and add to an already loaded roster.
By the time the playoffs arrived, a Tampa Bay team operating more than $18 million over the cap limit activated Kucherov for game action. With no financial ramifications to worry about, Kucherov scored 32 points in 23 playoff games to help lead the Bolts to their second straight Stanley Cup title.
If both Hall and Foligno can return at some point during this upcoming Cup run, the Bruins would welcome a similar scenario. But for now, it doesn’t look like B is acting with that expectation.
“It’s a really tough loss, both,” Montgomery said. “They’re both key guys who’ve really helped us through the season so far and hopefully they can both recover soon. But it’s not looking good, is it? So we’ve got to go out and find another player.” We needed to add someone who could come in and help us win hockey games.”
A third line featuring Charlie Coyle, Bertuzzi, and Hall has the potential to be a matchup nightmare in the playoffs.
But unless the Bruins get some good news on the injury front, it looks like Bertuzzi will be tasked with being the primary play-driver next to Coyle at that crucial third-line spot.
“He’s an outstanding hockey player,” Montgomery said of Bertuzzi. “I think he’s someone who understands how to win. He’s done it at the junior level. He was an MVP in Grand Rapids and part of the Calder Cup championship team. He’s a very complementary winger.
“He gets into tough areas. He’s a great net front guy, five-on-five, power play. He’s got a lot of sandpaper, as Bruins fans know from his feud with our other sandpaper guy, [Brad Marchand] will work.