What Bruins’ Taylor Hall-Nick Foligno Trade Signaled To Jim Montgomery

The Bruins turned a page Monday afternoon.

After putting together a record-breaking regular season, Boston parted ways with two important members of its historic club. Not long before the NHL Awards ceremony, the Bruins traded Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for defensemen Ian Mitchell and Alec Regula.

Although it was tough for Jim Montgomery to see Hall and Foligno go, the trade did serve as an offseason benchmark for the Bruins head coach.

“Nick Foligno is going to be a big void in our leadership core,” Montgomery told NESN’s Sophia Jurksztowicz. “He’s a great person and a great teammate and obviously someone who helped us through our season. Taylor Hall is a great offensive, dynamic player that had a great playoff and someone who always pushes the envelope to be an impact player every night for the Bruins. So, we’re going to miss them deeply. This also signals, to me, that we’re moving forward — that it’s next year and we’re starting to build and what our team is going to look like.”

David Pastrnak’s reaction to the trade was similar in tone. While it was “definitely tough” for the Bruins star to say goodbye to a pair of friends, Pastrnak understands the NHL is a business first and foremost.