Bruins add Tyler Bertuzzi, but get bad news on injury front with Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno
Bertuzzi #Bertuzzi
When the Bruins announced Thursday morning that they acquired pugnacious winger Tyler Bertuzzi, it felt like another domino was destined to fall.
Boston might have coveted Bertuzzi’s agitating style of play and propensity to drive the puck into Grade-A ice. But even with Detroit retaining 50 percent of his $4.75 million cap hit, Boston didn’t have the fiscal flexibility to bring in its new pickup.
Shortly after Thursday’s deal was completed, Boston crafted the necessary cap space. But it came at a significant cost.
In order to take in 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’s cleared to return.
Fellow bottom-six winger Nick Foligno also landed on the shelf, with Boston placing him on injured reserve after the veteran suffered a lower-body injury during Tuesday’s win over the Flames.
Hall, who played 13:28 of ice time in Boston’s victory over the Canucks Saturday, flew back to Boston in order to undergo further testing. Although Jim Montgomery noted at the time that the team didn’t expect Hall to be out long-term, it’s clear that such a projection has changed following 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.
“In both Taylor and Nicky’s injury situation, yeah, it took a real unfortunate turn for us,” Sweeney added. “There’s no timeline for either one of those players in terms of when they’re going to be available to us. … But it definitely created a situation for us. And we felt we had to fill a hole.”
With Hall on LTIR, the Bruins will remain cap compliant for however long he remains under that designation.
If Hall was to be activated before the end of the regular season, Boston would need to clear out a good chunk of cap space in order to remain compliant once again. But based on Sweeney’s comments, it doesn’t appear like a return in March or early April will be in the cards for either Hall or Foligno.
“I don’t think at this time it is. But it’s not ruled out,” Sweeney said of potential surgery for Hall and Foligno. “Again, our doctors are going to make the best medical decisions for them long term. It’s not a short-term situation.
“So we have time and allow that to really play out. … We’ve got six weeks to the playoffs. It’s unlikely that we see either one of them between now and then. But again, to be determined. I don’t think anything’s off the table. But that’s up to the medical staff.”
One thing worth noting is that the Bruins will not need to remain cap compliant once the postseason gets underway. If either Hall or Foligno are given the green light to play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they can rejoin the active roster without having to worry about contract implications.
The Lightning famously 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 over $18 million over the cap limit activated Kucherov for game action. With no financial ramifications to worry about, Kucherov went on to post 32 points in 23 playoff games to help lead the Bolts to their second straight Stanley Cup title.
The Bruins will welcome a similar scenario playing out if both Hall and Foligno can return at some point during this upcoming Cup run. But for now, it doesn’t seem like the B’s are operating with that expectation.
“It’s a really tough loss, both of them,” Montgomery said. “They’re both key guys that have really helped us have the season we’ve had so far and hopefully the two of them can get healthy soon. But it’s not looking good, right? So that’s why we needed to go out and add another player that can come in and help us win hockey games.”
A third line featuring Charlie Coyle, Bertuzzi, and Hall has the potential of a matchup nightmare in the playoffs.
But unless the Bruins get some good news on the injury front, it seems like Bertuzzi will be tasked as the primary play-driver next to Coyle in that crucial third-line spot.
“He’s an excellent hockey player,” Montgomery said of Bertuzzi. “I think he’s someone that understands how to win. He’s done it at the junior level. He was an MVP and part of a Calder Cup championship team in Grand Rapids. He’s a very complementary winger.
“He goes hard to hard areas. He’s a great netfront guy, five on five, power play. He’s got a lot of sandpaper to him, as Bruins fans will know from his altercation with our other sandpaper guy, [Brad Marchand].”
Sign up for Bruins updates🏒
Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during hockey season.
Submit your email Enter your email address Sign up
The post Bruins add Tyler Bertuzzi, but get bad news on injury front with Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno appeared first on Boston.com.