How does one grade a trade when the general manager had absolutely zero leverage? Or better yet, can you?

As it relates to Don Sweeney and the problems facing the Bruins after a failed all in year (and the granddaddy of them all when it comes to failed all in years, really), we’ve been here for months now. To the point where seeing people cosplaying as an NHL insider and vague-tweeting nonsensical garbage like an eyeball emoji with zero context or saying ‘today is the day the Bruins blow it up!’ on the timeline couldn’t even be met with the scorn and mockery it deserved because even people spending $8 a month for access to a free website knew it was only a matter of time.

That time was just before 3 p.m. on Monday, in fact, as the Bruins shipped Taylor Hall and the rights to pending unrestricted free agent Nick Foligno to the Blackhawks. You knew the return was going to be a mild one, but even this was rough. In exchange for Hall and Foligno, the Bruins received depth defensive prospects/NHL tweeners Ian Mitchell and Alec Regula, both of whom are restricted free agents this summer, and neither one of whom expects to be a needle mover for the franchise.

To put this return into its proper and painful context, the Bruins couldn’t even pry a draft pick out of the hands of the franchise set to make an absolutely ridiculous 29 draft selections over the next three years. They couldn’t even trick them into taking on Mike Reilly in what was already a sweetheart deal for the Blackhawks.

So we come back to the L word, and with a simple realization. Leverage? Buddy, that left the barn as soon as the Bruins’ bonus overages became another inevitability in a summer that’s looking full of ’em.

In the now, the grading of the trade is best answered as an incomplete.

The stripping of parts from the B’s ship that set the regular-season wins and points record has officially begun, and before it can be judged, you’ll need to know how it ends for Sweeney and capologist supreme Evan Gold, who are probably wincing every time they crunch the calculator for more answers.

Here are more thoughts and notes from a cap-clearing trade by the B’s to kick off a surely busy week…

• All eyes shift to the Tyler Bertuzzi situation…

  

  SUNRISE, FL — Tyler Bertuzzi of the Boston Bruins celebrates a goal against the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. (Jasen Vinlove/USA TODAY Sports)

• This is my own personal opinion here, but I struggle to see why or how the Bruins make this trade without some semblance of confidence that they can re-sign pending unrestricted free agent Tyler Bertuzzi. There were other ways to clear similar money before trading Hall, and the Bruins deciding that trading Hall was the move (and for a minimal return) naturally leads one to believe that the Bruins are indeed making their push to keep Bertuzzi around on a long-term deal.

  Do I think it’s a perfect plan? Yes and no. Ultimately, I do believe that Hall is the more complete player of the two, and perhaps the more ‘naturally gifted’ hockey player. But if the Bruins are going to rejigger their core, Bertuzzi is 28 years old while Hall is 31, and Bertuzzi probably has a higher (or at the very least longer) offensive ceiling in the future, especially if he’s deployed the way Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery deployed him upon his addition to the team.

  What I can add is that the Bruins quickly fell in love with Bertuzzi’s game. While the Bruins always had high hopes for Bertuzzi and his potential fit as a middle-six option, they didn’t know he was this efficient of a passing threat and that part of his game jumped off the page for them. They also loved the ‘grease’ in his game as a net-front option, and the playoff production was enough to push them towards full-on obsessed. It was kind of funny when Bertuzzi got off to a slow start in Boston, there was an element of ‘just wait until the playoffs’ from within. Bertuzzi delivered, too, with a team-leading five goals (tied with Hall, ironically enough) and 10 points in Boston’s seven-game series loss to the Panthers.

  The Bruins also think they’ll be in good shape should they roll out a first line that features Bertuzzi to the left of Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak in 2023-24. The Bruins could even roll Bertuzzi to the right of Patrice Bergeron (assuming he’s back for a 20th season with the club) and Brad Marchand, which had some obvious success during its brief run together in the playoffs.

  But what will it take to get a deal done? Ultimately, the Bruins would have to hope or think they could get Bertuzzi re-signed at an average annual value lower than that of Hall. Otherwise, it’s a lateral move from a money standpoint. Does the AAV of the contract get cheaper the longer the Bruins go and does that work for both parties? Long-term security is something that Bertuzzi is prioritizing on this new deal, I believe. But Bertuzzi is also oh so close to testing the free agent waters, and at this point, you have to wonder if the allure of weighing his options is officially there.

• The Bruins better use this relief the right way…

  

  MONTREAL, QUEBEC – JULY 07: President Cam Neely and General Manager Don Sweeney of the Boston Bruins look on during Round One of the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bell Centre on July 07, 2022. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

• And this is part of the pickle that the Bruins have worked themselves into right now.

  Listen, I get it, the Bruins quite literally needed to move money off their books. Nobody is disputing that. And Hall’s $6 million cap hit was always a contender when it came to Sweeney’s summer liquidation. But if the Bruins ultimately moved Hall for nothing and then fail to re-sign Bertuzzi, you’ll certainly have a right to wonder just what is going on.

  While Hall was a third-line luxury in 2022-23 given the overwhelming depth of the Bruins, his 2023-24 campaign would have certainly seen him bumped back up to a top-line role, and likely as the left wing on a second line with Zacha in the middle and Pastrnak on the right. That’s far from what you’d consider a noncompetitive second line. Especially considering Hall’s success with Pastrnak in 2021-22, and with Erik Haula at center for the majority of that run (Zacha is an undeniable upgrade there).

  Together for over 855 minutes of five-on-five play together over the last two years, the Hall-Pastrnak duo held an on-ice shot advantage of 535-to-381, on-ice scoring chance edge of 465-to-375, and 48-32 scoring advantage. That paced out to 37.51 shots, 32.61 scoring chances, and 3.37 goals per 60 minutes of action. The Bertuzzi-Pastrnak duo bested all those figures in a smaller sample size, of course, but Hall riding with Zacha and Pastrnak was a great consolation prize for the 2023-24 Bruins.

  Hall was arguably at his point when playing with Pastrnak, too, with 20 goals and 61 points during his 2021-22 campaign.

  The doomsday scenario of losing your top prize and consolation prize in the same week will linger over this club until Bertuzzi or someone of an equal talent level (be it at left wing or center) signs on the dotted line for the Bruins.

• I was right, Felger was wrong (Part Infinity)

  

  Mar 10, 2022; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Taylor Hall (71) skates with the puck during the third period against the Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports)

• Imagine my shock when the breaking analysis of this trade included Mike Felger saying he wanted to bring me in and “slap me around.” First of all, I’ve seen your diet, Mike. You eat a bucket of salad every day, and the color of that bucket tells me that’s straight romaine, not kale. You’re like six inches taller than me but 20 pounds lighter. You’re slapping me and I’m wondering if your wrist just broke. The sneaky strong boy has logged the hell on and is looking for violence.

  But no, really, where was I wrong about Taylor Hall? At any point over the two-plus years he was here with the Bruins. I’ll let anybody look through the archives and try to find where I was wrong about Hall.

  This nonsense started in 2021 when Hall was labeled a ‘bad teammate’ before he even played a game for the Bruins. That was debunked almost immediately as Hall bought into everything the Bruins were selling him, and it was nuked in 2022-23 when Hall almost happily accepted a third-line role for the Bruins. Whenever I’d ask Hall about the adjustment as a lifelong top-six talent now playing a more complementary role, Hall would quickly remind me that he wasn’t the only player in that locker room sacrificing something to help the Bruins be the best team they could be that season. He didn’t sour or bitch once.

  The idea that he was a ‘dog’ or would ‘quit’ on the Bruins? Did that ever happen? The answer is no. Quick story: When Hall suffered that strange-looking lower-body in Vancouver, the initial fear in the Boston room was that his season would be over. But Hall and the Bruins sought out a second opinion, and that opinion came with good news that kept his season alive. The Bruins were hopeful that Hall would be good to go for the postseason (even that was not a certainty), but Hall pushed for regular-season games. He wanted to get up to game speed before putting himself out there. It was best for himself, sure, but it was also best for the Bruins so that they could trust him to be a fully capable body out there.

  And Hall was arguably the B’s best forward behind Bertuzzi in the postseason.

  It showed in both the always-tricky eye test and on the box score, as Hall matched Bertuzzi for the team lead in playoff goals this spring, with five. Holding court with us at his stall in between Games 1 and 2, Hall admitted that he realized this was his best shot at a Stanley Cup and that that was not lost on him. He’s one of the only Bruins skaters who truly played like that, too. Hall was actually the third-most productive Bruin over the course of his three postseasons with the club, trailing only David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand in points, and ranks 51st among all NHL forwards in playoff points over that stretch, which is saying something when you consider Hall and the Bruins advanced out of the first round just once over that three-year stretch.

  The Bruins are moving on from Hall and have the same amount of Stanley Cup banners as when he first arrived, of course, but it’s not for any of the reasons people tried to ‘warn’ you about when Hall first arrived from Buffalo.

  Also: I will hit Felger with a GTS anytime, anywhere. It’s clobberin’ time.

• What should we know about the B’s return?

  

  Feb 10, 2023; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Ian Mitchell (51) skates against the Arizona Coyotes at United Center. (Jamie Sabau/USA TODAY Sports)

• As a general rule of thumb, I try not to completely judge a player on a trash-ass team. The 2022-23 Chicago Blackhawks, in my opinion, qualify as a trash-ass team. That was by design, of course, and it worked out for Chicago, as they’ll draft Connor Bedard with the No. 1 overall pick Wednesday night in Nashville.

  But it also makes it hard to love what the Bruins are acquiring in exchange for Hall.

  Of the two, defenseman Ian Mitchell is the more intriguing, as he arrives to the B’s organization with 82 games of NHL experience over the last three seasons, including 35 games this past season. The 5-foot-11 Mitchell also played for Jim Montgomery at the University of Denver, and was Montgomery’s most productive defender in 2017-18.

  But Mitchell’s 2022-23 numbers were also downright heinous.

  One of seven Chicago defensemen to log at least 400 minutes of five-on-five play this past season, Mitchell was on the ice for a Blackhawk defense-worst 37.42 shots against per 60, and opponents averaged 3.14 goals per 60 with Mitchell on the ice. That’s despite Mitchell’s on-ice save percentage (.916) ranking as the second-best among that group of seven and his 57.63 offensive-zone faceoff percentage ranking tops among that group.

  Again, when talking about a trash-ass team, perhaps it’s best to ignore those numbers and hope that a change of scenery is all that’s needed for a 24-year-old taken with a second-round pick (No. 57 overall) back in 2017.

  The 6-foot-4 Alec Regula, meanwhile, appears to be Providence-bound after a 2022-23 campaign that included five goals and 21 points in 51 games for AHL Rockford. The Bruins certainly have a need for right-shooting defensemen on the farm.

• Why Nick Foligno was included in this trade

  

  BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JANUARY 02: Nick Foligno #17 of the Boston Bruins and Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins shake hands after playing in the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

• Little bit of a weird addition to the trade seeing Foligno’s unrestricted free agency rights thrown into this deal.

  Truthfully, that may mean very little at this point in the game and with Foligno seeking a Stanley Cup, but from the Chicago point of view, it appears that they’d like a chance to see if they can pitch the 35-year-old Foligno on joining their team as a much-needed voice in the room given their undeniable youth and inexperience.

  Something of note: Even after trading for Hall, the Blackhawks remain below the salary cap floor, meaning that they’ll need to spend some money to flesh out their roster for 2023-24. In essence, the Blackhawks can basically outbid anybody for Foligno, who may have a bit of a ‘cooler’ market despite his productive 2023-24 given the way bottom-six veterans have been squeezed year after year. It’ll also be interesting to see if Foligno wants that kind of job next season. He’s painfully aware of his mortality in this league, and remains in search of a Stanley Cup. That won’t be happening in Chicago in 2024.

  For what it’s worth, Foligno did want to return to the Bruins next season, but that is/was probably only happening if he took a serious haircut on his salary (league minimum or damn close to it), and the Bruins may have very well already told him that that’s not happening with plenty of in-house competition on team-friendly deals.

• And still, the Bruins remain in the woods

  

  LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JUNE 18: Don Sweeney of the Boston Bruins attends the 2019 NHL Awards Nominee Media Availability at the Encore Las Vegas on June 18, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

• As painful as it was to basically give Hall away to the highest only bidder, it’s even more painful when you realize that the Bruins are still not out of the woods when it comes to their salary cap issues.

  Following the departure of Hall, the Bruins have $10.9 million in cap space with six forwards, seven defensemen, and one goalie signed to their NHL roster for 2023-24. Even with a bare bones approach of 12 skaters, seven defensemen, and two goalies, the Bruins have an average of $1.56 million to spend on their current roster vacancies. That’s better than what it was prior to the Hall trade, sure, and that average will certainly bump when the Bruins sign players to league-minimum (or close to it) contracts. But that’s ultimately not saying much, and it’s still hardly enough to ice a competitive roster given the Bruins’ future contracts, be it to a Bertuzzi, or even to restricted free agents Trent Frederic and Jeremy Swayman.

  Reading between the lines, another move or two is still to come.

• So, what’s next?

  

  Feb 14, 2023; Dallas, Texas, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (48) in action during the game between the Dallas Stars and the Boston Bruins at American Airlines Center. (Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports)

• For Boston’s next move, you almost have to think that a departure is coming from the backend.

  As has been the case for over half a year now, the Bruins have yet to find a trade partner for Mike Reilly, inching the sides closer and closer to what feels like the inevitable buyout. Reilly, who spent the majority of his 2022-23 season with AHL Providence, is entering the final year of what was a three-year, $9 million extension signed in 2021. A Reilly buyout would provide the Bruins with $2.66 million in cap relief for 2023-24, and come with a $1.3 million penalty in 2024-25.

  Another name that keeps popping up is Matt Grzelcyk. There’s been a lot of backchannel rumbling about Grzelcyk potentially being on the move (I’ve heard him linked to teams in both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference), but right now the murmurs are not strong enough for me to comfortably link him to a specific team or say that it’s definitely happening. Grzelcyk, a Charlestown, Mass. native who was (oddly) used as a part-time player by Jim Montgomery in Boston’s first-round playoff series, is entering the final year of a contract that comes with a $3.687 million cap hit.

  The Bruins could also explore the trade market for shot blocker and penalty-killing specialist Derek Forbort, who is entering the final year of a contract that comes with a $3 million cap hit.

  One thing that would truly shock me? Linus Ullmark being the next domino to fall. I know that’s a hot topic, and Ullmark himself addressed the possibility, but I really do feel like the Bruins look at that Ullmark-Swayman as their strongest chance to remain competitive in 2023-24 independent of what Patrice Bergeron decides.

  Then again, I didn’t see the cash-clearing frenzy beginning with Hall, so who the hell knows?

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