The Boston Bruins traded winger Taylor Hall and pending UFA winger Nick Foligno to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for prospect defensemen Ian Mitchell and Alec Regula.

The Blackhawks get: a former star winger in Hall, who is now a shadow of his former self. With Boston, Hall was a regular middle-six winger who saw secondary PP time. His production ran hot and cold, at one point tallying 17 points in 21 games, but at another juncture just six points in 19 games. He was ineffectual on the power play, notching just eight PPPts, the second-lowest of his career. In Foligno, the team gets the negotiating rights to a potential leader in the dressing room. It may be what the team is looking for when it comes to a veteran example for Connor Bedard. Don't rule out Foligno being signed, even though he's at the 'occasional healthy scratch' stage of his career.

The Bruins get: cap space, and that's the biggest win in this climate of a frozen salary cap. Hall is making $6M AAV, and Chicago is taking all of it. Now the team can negotiate a little easier with free agents, including Tyler Bertuzzi, with whom they still have negotiating rights. But Mitchell and Regula are both decent prospects who are fairly close to being NHL ready. Mitchell is the more ready of the two. The 24-year-old was drafted 57^th overall in 2017, and he's now figured it out at the AHL level (41 points in his last 52 AHL games). In the NHL, he still needs to be sheltered in terms of his implementation, but he's third on the depth chart in terms of right-shot defensemen (Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo), so he'll be safely buried on the bottom pairing and can be brought along slowly. This is assuming the team lets Connor Clifton walk. As for Regula, he is no longer exempt from waivers. He's 22 and boasts size (6-4, 208) and toughness. He has good multi-cat upside and is one to watch in fantasy circles.

Fantasy Players Impacted: Before everyone gets on board the Hall train, step back and take a deep breath. Yes, he's the obvious choice to play with Bedard. He most definitely will get a shot there. And it may even work. But he also had a shot with Jack Eichel. Remember when he signed with Buffalo and everyone thought it was the key to his big turnaround? It wasn't. His chemistry with Eichel was non-existent and his tenure in Buffalo was a flop. Playing with Bedard should, theoretically, push him back up into the 60s for points – but it is unlikely he gets anywhere close to 80.

That being said, the mere fact that Hall is now with Chicago and he gets an extended look alongside Bedard, that takes Bedard-time away from other hopefuls. Number one on that list is up-and-coming sniper Taylor Raddysh. I suspect the line could have Hall on the left and Raddysh on the right, thereby not impacting Raddysh at all. But any new winger taking a spot on that line reduces the available spots by 50%, which can't be a good thing for other wingers. Lukas Reichel, Chicago's top prospect, is also a winger. And while we may one day see a line of Reichel – Bedard – Raddysh, that day is looking like it won't take place in October. Reichel may have to anchor his own line. That's fine, as he is a high-upside prospect, but it's obviously not ideal. Andreas Athanasiou also sees reduced odds of cracking that big line.

The spots freed up by Mitchell and Regula open up space for Kevin Korchinski to make the team. He may need another year of development in lower levels, but he has nothing left to prove in junior hockey and the Blackhawks may want to keep him up. He's a left-shot and could be the best left-shot D in the organization right now.

Hall leaving Boston opens up ice time, PP time, cap space and a roster spot that Boston needs to fill. At present, there is now room for a prospect such as Fabian Lysell to crack the lineup, but the Bruins will likely sign a winger with their newfound cap space. The increased odds that they keep Bertuzzi makes for a nice bump in his value.

Mitchell and Regula join Reilly Walsh, another right-handed prospect defenseman that the Bruins acquired Monday (from the Devils for prospect forward Shane Bowers) as hopefuls to crack the lineup. Only one will make the team, possibly two. The other will need to go through waivers to be sent down. All three of them have good upside, but now it's time to put up or shut up.

Fantasy players this helps, in order:

1. Hall
2. Bertuzzi
3. Korchinski
4. Lysell

Fantasy players this hurts, in order:

1. Athanasiou
2. Reichel
3. Raddysh