NHL Notebook: Things could get complicated for Bruins if Taylor Hall returns early

Is Taylor Hall ahead of schedule?

Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe reported Friday that the injured Bruins forward could potentially return to the ice as soon as Monday and game action at the conclusion of Boston’s five-game road trip.

Dupont wrote that Hall said in the press box on Thursday night that he was relieved his injury was not more serious. Dupont went on to report that a source close to Hall says the “initial plan” is for the winger to not play back-to-backs. 

If the report is accurate, it certainly goes against what the Bruins have said in regard to Hall’s status.

General manager Don Sweeney said before the trade deadline that the injury situations for Hall and Nick Foligno “took a really unfortunate turn for us,” and coach Jim Montgomery said it wasn’t “looking good.” Sweeney did not rule out surgery for either at the time, and Foligno was recently spotted with a brace around his right leg.

“Our doctors are going to make the best decisions for them long-term. It’s not a short-term situation,” Sweeney said on March 2. “We have time and we’ll allow that to really play out. That’s not a timeline. We’ve got six weeks until the playoffs. It’s unlikely that we see one or either one of them between now and then, but again, to be determined.”

Montgomery echoed the same sentiment on Friday, saying, “What we’re expecting is for Taylor Hall to hopefully be an option come playoff time. We don’t have an update there different than that. The same thing [with Foligno]. They both have suffered pretty significant lower-body injuries. It’s just going to take time.”

During Saturday's 3-2 win over Detroit, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported on the ABC broadcast that the second opinion on Hall’s injury was “much more positive” after Bruins doctors weren’t sure he would be able to return at all this season. 

As for Foligno, Kaplan reported, “His timeline is a lot more clear-cut. Six weeks from the time of injury, so we should be seeing him either one of the last regular season games or one of the first few games of the playoffs.”

Either way, if Hall is nearing a return, it creates another financial hurdle for Boston. His and Foligno’s injuries prompted Sweeney to pivot his plan at the deadline, making another big move to bring in Tyler Bertuzzi as insurance.

To accommodate the deal, Hall, who carries a $6 million cap hit, moved to long-term injured reserve (LTIR) to create more cap flexibility for Boston. 

In order to be placed on LTIR, a player must be out a minimum of 10 games and 24 days (it can be applied retroactively), so Saturday’s game against the Red Wings marks six games and 14 days since Hall sustained his injury against Vancouver on Feb. 25. At the end of Boston’s road trip, it will be 11 games but only 22 days. Tuesday, March 21 against the Ottawa Senators would mark 24 days since the injury. 

According to CapFriendly, the Bruins have approximately $3.625 million available in LTIR space, so Sweeney would have to get creative again if Hall returns before the playoffs, where there is no salary cap. Given Foligno’s reported timeline and $3.8 million salary, he could potentially be from injured reserve to LTIR to facilitate things. 

Fourth line gets rewarded against Red Wings

The trio of A.J. Greer, Tomas Nosek and Garnet Hathaway was the Bruins’ best trio in Saturday’s comeback win over Detroit. 

They were sharp early, getting in on the forecheck and hemming the Red Wings into their own end in an effort to slow them down while Boston found its legs in a sluggish first period. The line also brought physicality during the play and after the whistle in an effort to spark the Bruins. 

“That’s exactly what we need to do, especially when we were down two goals at the beginning of the game,” Greer said. “We just told ourselves on the bench, ‘Hey, we need something to light a spark here. We need to go out here and do something to ignite not only our team but the crowd.’

“I thought we did a great job of hemming the d-men into their own zone. Relentless pressure. Physical. When we play the right way, the offensive chances come. The puck found us, found our sticks and we got the good bounces.”

The B’s eventually came alive, and the fourth line maintained its compete level and effectiveness, eventually getting rewarded with the game-winning goal.

Nosek dropped off to Greer upon entering the offensive zone, and Magnus Hellberg couldn’t handle Greer’s shot off a deflection. Hathaway was right there at the left post to get the puck to his forehand and tuck the rebound. 

“I think we played to the identity that we want to,” Hathaway said. “Our game is moving through the zones, trying to get into the o-zone, and I think we were able to wear them down a little bit tonight. Getting the goal for the line was kind of just the cherry on top for us.”

Greer said, “It was a great play all around for the goal at the end. [Hathaway] was just doing his job, going to the net. That’s exactly what we need as a fourth line, crashing the net and getting those dirty goals.”

Each skater held an individual Corsi-for of at least 62 percent, according to Natural Stat Trick. As a line at 5-on-5, they out-attempted Detroit 15-7 (68.18 percent), and held a 67.38 percent share of expected goals. All the while, the fourth unit was on the ice for just one offensive zone face-off, compared to five in their own end, fulfilling its role as a defensive, checking line. 

Hathaway continues to fit his bill as a physical, defensive winger who can finish his chances. He tied Connor Clifton for the team lead in hits (five) against Detroit. Greer added two and Nosek one as well.

Bruins fortunate to avoid DeBrusk injury against Oilers

In the first period of Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, Jake DeBrusk (6-feet, 197-pound) took the brunt of a heavy collision with hulking defenseman Mattias Ekholm (6-foot-4, 215-pounds) on a Bruins power play in the first period. 

DeBrusk essentially took a cross-check to the chest after Ekholm stuck his arms out to brace for the hit as the two locked paths. The winger, who returned to the lineup on Feb. 18 after missing 17 games due to hand and lower-body injuries in the Winter Classic, stayed down for several moments before heading to the room.

On the Oilers’ broadcast, DeBrusk’s father, former NHL-er Louie DeBrusk, hinted that his son had already been battling another injury, remarking, “Kid's pretty shaken up. He doesn't stay down too often like that ... Been dealing with a little bit of an injury in the upper body, looks like it catches him right in that spot."

DeBrusk eventually returned, going on to log one shot, one hit, one block and a minus-two rating in 15:28 of ice time. 

It was an unfortunate, inadvertent crash, and Boston was fortunate that he was none the worse for wear, considering how much time he has missed recently as well as the injuries to Hall and Foligno. Montgomery said postgame that DeBrusk is “fine.”

“I think that most of it was just that he got the wind knocked out of him because when you’re not expecting a hit, and there’s just an accidental collision like that, you don’t brace yourself for the hit, and it knocks the air out of you,” Montgomery said Thursday. “We’re lucky that’s all it was.”

DeBrusk seemed to be just fine on Saturday, assisting on Patrice Bergeron's tying goal on the power play in the second period against Detroit. The winger had a shot, a block and two hits in 19:00 of ice time. 

Boston still finding motivation

The Bruins have been atop the NHL essentially since the drop of the puck on the season, but still, here they are, winning 10 in a row before Thursday’s defeat to Edmonton. 

“We don’t change what our outlook has been. We’ve had a fairly comfortable lead for a while,” Montgomery told reporters Monday at Warrior Ice Arena. “I think [assistant coach] Joe Sacco said it best the other day - I forget where we were on the road trip. He just says, ‘It’s amazing, how hard these guys play,’ knowing what we all are talking about. I think we continually talk about areas we need to get better at.”

The talk has been about Boston’s insurmountable lead atop the standings, sitting as a lock to make the playoffs with good odds to make a run, per MoneyPuck.com. They’ve spotted themselves an 11-point lead over Carolina for first place in the NHL, and are well on their way to the first seed in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference, becoming the fastest team to 50 wins in NHL history after the win over the Red Wings. 

Even then, Montgomery said the Bruins don’t concern themselves with the math. While it’s also important to take advantage of the opportunity to rest veterans and tinker with the lineup, Boston has taken an interesting approach to remain driven in recent weeks.

Montgomery said the Bruins broke the last road trip into segments, treating it almost like a playoff series.

“We did that in the beginning of the road trip,” Montgomery said. “We said we’ve gotta win two out of three, you know, with Seattle, Vancouver and then Edmonton. We won the first two, so we won the two out of three. 

“Then the third game, we knew if we won the first two, well now it’s an opportunity [to approach it as] ‘We just played Game 7. We only have a day off. We’ve got to start playing Game 1 in the finals, and we’re playing [Connor] McDavid. How are we going to handle that beast?’”

It’s a viewpoint that has paid off for Boston recently, winning 10 of 11, even if McDavid and the Oilers took Game 2 last week.