The Boston Bruins are about to receive a boost to their lineup, as winger Taylor Hall is expected to return to action on Saturday night against the New Jersey Devils.
Hall had been out of the lineup since suffering a lower-body injury on Feb. 25. The Bruins have gone 16-4-0 in his absence, due in large part to some trade deadline additions which have helped to pad out their depth. With his return, the Bruins will get a look at what a mostly-healthy forward lineup looks like (David Krejci does remain sidelined with a lower-body injury).
Hall will slot in on the third line alongside Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic, the two forwards he has spent the most time with this season. In 164:04 of 5v5 ice time together, they have a 56.21 percent shot attempt share and a 61.16 percent expected goal share. Hall will also return to the second power play unit, already manned by Charlie McAvoy, Pavel Zacha and deadline additions Tyler Bertuzzi and Dmitri Orlov.
While Hall is not producing like he did during his Hart Trophy-winning days, he remains an excellent secondary scoring option, especially as the team's forward depth has expanded. Prior to suffering injury, Hall had posted 16 goals, 20 assists and 36 total points across 58 games this season.
Hall was a former first-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2010 and had spent time with (in addition to the Bruins) the Oilers, New Jersey Devils, Arizona Coyotes and Buffalo Sabres over the course of his 13-year NHL career. Boston acquired Hall at the trade deadline in 2021. He is currently in the second year of a four-year deal and holds a $6 million cap hit
Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy will also be in the lineup tonight after leaving Thursday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs early with an injury. Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said it was more of a precautionary lifting than anything else and that the injury was not a serious one.
Standings-wise, the Bruins have nothing to play for, as they already have the Presidents’ Trophy clinched with an 18-point gap on the next best team. They are still chasing history, though, as their 61-12-5 record has them within reach of both the single-season points record of 132 and single-season wins record of 62, with the Bruins having 127 and 61 respectively with four games remaining.
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