Amid an exciting morning for the Bruins that featured a David Pastrnak extension and a trade for Tyler Bertuzzi, there was also some bad news.
The Bruins placed Taylor Hall on long-term injured reserve and Nick Foligno on regular injured reserve after both forwards got injured during the Bruins' recent West Coast swing -- Hall on Saturday in Vancouver, Foligno on Tuesday in Calgary.
General manager Don Sweeney said there was no timetable for either player's return, but that it's "unlikely" either will be back before the playoffs. He said both are continuing to be evaluated, but acknowledged that the early news was "discouraging."
"In both Taylor and Nicky’s injury situation, yeah, it took a real unfortunate turn for us," Sweeney said. "There’s no timeline for either one of those players in terms of when they’re going to be available to us. Just leaving that in the medical staff’s hands to make the best judgment moving forward."
Sweeney said the two injuries were definitely one of the factors in his decision to go out and acquire Bertuzzi, who could slot into Hall's usual spot on the third line, with A.J. Greer and Garnet Hathaway likely taking on regular playing time on the fourth line in Foligno's absence. The Bruins also called up Jakub Lauko on Thursday, and he is expected to play at least Thursday night with Bertuzzi not expected to arrive in time for the Bruins' game against the Sabres.
"It definitely created a situation for us where we felt we had to fill a hole, because we just don’t have a timeline at this point," Sweeney said.
With Hall on long-term IR, the Bruins do still have some cap space to work with if Sweeney wants to make another trade before Friday's 3 p.m. trade deadline. Sweeney, however, said he doubts there will be another trade coming after already acquiring Bertuzzi, Hathaway and defenseman Dmitry Orlov, but that he'll continue to evaluate any possibilities.