While some key members of the Boston Bruins were in Nashville for the 2023 NHL awards ceremony, back in Boston, general manager Don Sweeney was busy making some trades for the B's. The biggest one that caught everyone's attention involved the Bruins sending Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Alec Regula and Ian Mitchell.

Hall had been involved in trade rumors frequently early on this offseason, as the Bruins needed more cap space in order to try to re-sign some of their upcoming free agent class. By unloading Hall's $6 million salary, Boston has a bit more breathing room when it comes to attacking free agency over the next few months.

Still, losing Hall and a key fourth-line contributor in Foligno is a tough one to swallow in Boston. These two guys played a huge role for the B's over the past few seasons, and their losses will be felt. It's clear that this is a simple salary dump for the Bruins, but in order for it to work out for the team, they must find a way to re-sign Tyler Bertuzzi.

Why Bruins must re-sign Tyler Bertuzzi after trading Taylor Hall

The Bruins have a big group of pending free agents this offseason, headlined by Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov, Jeremy Swayman, and Trent Frederic, with the latter two being restricted free agents. Boston has been trying to find ways to keep both of their trade deadline acquisitions in Bertuzzi and Orlov in town, but that's obviously going to be much easier said than done.

Moving Hall, though, pretty much necessitates the Bruins to go out and re-sign Bertuzzi. Hall isn't the same player he was when he won the Hart Trophy back in the 2017-18 season with the New Jersey Devils, but he was still a solid second or third-line winger for Boston. Hall racked up 16 goals and 20 assists in 61 regular season games this past year, before adding five goals and three assists in their first-round playoff series loss to the Florida Panthers.

The Bruins almost had to move Hall's contract in order for them to be able to make any sort of improvements this offseason. Truth be told, Sweeney didn't have many other options when it came to Hall. But now that he's gone, Sweeney has to make the proper moves to keep Boston competitive, and the most pressing move in that regard involves re-signing Bertuzzi.

As previously noted, the Bruins picked up Bertuzzi from the Detroit Red Wings prior to the trade deadline, and he ended up being a seamless fit with the team. He tallied four goals and 12 assists in 21 regular season games, before being arguably Boston's best player against the Panthers, where he picked up five goals and five assists in the seven games of action.

Moving Hall in favor of Bertuzzi does make sense from a Boston perspective for a few reasons. For starters, Bertuzzi fits the Bruins timeline a bit more, as he is 28 years old compared to Hall, who will turn 32 early in the 2023-24 season. Bertuzzi's grind-it-out style of play also is a better fit for Boston, as he proved to be a fantastic partner alongside David Pastrnak on the second line.

Considering how good he looked in the playoffs, and how he's in the prime of his career, Bertuzzi is going to command a fairly big deal in free agency. Prior to moving on from Hall, the Bruins weren't going to be able to put together a competitive offer that would truly make Bertuzzi consider staying in Boston for the long-term future.

Armed with over $10 million in cap space now, the Bruins have the power to at least make Bertuzzi an offer he will consider. But at this point, that isn't good enough. Boston already lost a key scorer on their secondary lines in Hall, and you can even say the same thing about Foligno; losing out on Bertuzzi would be catastrophic.

When you add in the possibility of losing Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to retirement, that could mean that the Bruins would lose five of the 12 main forwards they used in their rotation last season. That would be the sort of gut punch that would force this team to contemplate some sort of rebuild over the next few seasons.

Even if Bergeron and Krejci do retire, Bertuzzi is a guy that the Bruins should want to keep around. He fits the team's timeline and offensive playstyle, and has already proven himself to be a great fit alongside Pastrnak, who is quickly becoming the focal point of Boston's offensive attack. The logic behind dealing Hall makes sense, but now the front office has to complete the second piece of the deal and go out and re-sign Bertuzzi.