Cam Neely On Bruins Trading Taylor Hall: ‘We Really Loved Him’

Taylor Hall was one of the better-performing players for the Bruins during their shortlived playoff run so when the Boston brass traded the former MVP to the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, it was clear there was one reason — to free up cap space.

The Bruins, like the rest of the league, were hoping for a significant increase in the salary cap next season based on the general managers’ meetings in March. At the end of the season, Boston had a little under $4 million in cap space with an abundance of unrestricted and restricted free agents to try and retain. By trading Hall, the Bruins added $6 million to their cap bringing them just over $10 million.

“We figured if the cap didn’t go up, we were going to have some juggling to do which we unfortunately lose Taylor,” Bruins president Cam Neely told reporters, per team-provided video. “Great player for us. We really loved him as a Bruin. But that’s just you know, we knew that was gonna happen. Unfortunately, the cap didn’t go up like everybody was hoping for, but we kind of anticipated that.”

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said on the last day of the meetings, that if hockey-related revenues for the remainder of the 2022-23 season exceeded current projections, the cap could increase by $4.5 million. That didn’t happen; the cap only increased $1 million from $82.5 million to $83.5 million. The projections for the upcoming years are much higher, which will benefit a lot of teams.

“We don’t take advantage of that next year either,” Neely said. “We feel pretty good about where we are going into the following year. But it’s just this season right now, we’re trying to piece together.”