Don Sweeney was busy Thursday morning.
The Boston Bruins made two significant moves Thursday, first acquiring forward Tyler Bertuzzi in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings and then announcing an eight-year, $ 90 million contract extension for David Pastrnak .
Now, a third shoe has dropped: The Bruins are placing Taylor Hall on long-term injured-reserve in a move that will create $ 6 million in LTIR cap space, per CapFriendly.com.
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Boston also announced it has placed Nick Foligno on injured reserve and recalled Jakub Lauko from Providence
The Bruins exceeded the salary cap when they took on Bertuzzi's $ 4.75 million cap hit for 2022-23, so they needed to make a corresponding move to get under the cap. Boston's solution was placing Hall on LTIR, which allows the team to exceed the salary cap by up to $ 6 million and means the Bruins don't have to release another player to create cap space.
If the B's don't release another player during the regular season, then Hall will have to remain on LTIR for the rest of the season. But thanks to the NHL's current LTIR rules, Hall can return to the active roster for the postseason, even with Bertuzzi on the roster and the team over the salary cap.
Boston Bruins
This is the same loophole the Tampa Bay Lightning exploited in 2021, when they exceeded the salary cap by roughly $ 18 million after placing star forward Nikita Kucherov on LTIR and went on to win the Stanley Cup.
The absences of Hall -- who reportedly is seeking a second opinion on a lower body issue that has sidelined him the last two games -- and Foligno isn't ideal for the Bruins. But they have a comfortable lead in the Eastern Conference as the best team in hockey and have a more-than-capable shor-term replacement in Bertuzzi, who should take Hall's spot on the third line.
In short, this is smart business for the Bruins, who appear to be all-in on winning a Stanley Cup.