Hall to Blackhawks

[4T2]

I’ve never been a huge fan of Hall during his time in Boston. Now he gets to return to what he knows, playing for a bottom feeding team.

I do think he could do well production-wise playing with Bedard and I’d be willing to take a flyer on him if he’s falling in the draft. Maybe he gets back to 70-75 points this season.

Very happy Boston got the cap space in return and apparently the two prospects have a little bit of upside and could fill some depth roles in the lineup.

Hate to see Foligno go, would have loved to see him stay in Boston on a team-friendly contract. His leadership could be exactly what the Blackhawks need to help bring the young players along

[VintageVibe]

Hall-Bedard-Athanasiou would be an interesting line with plenty of afterburner ability.

I might be completely wrong here but I cannot see CHI making the same mistakes Dubas and the Leafs made over the past half decade.

Hall-Bedard-???
Kurashev-Reichel-Athanasiou/Radyysh
???-Johnson-Athanasiou/Radyysh

You have to think they have their eyes set on one or two Barbashev, Wilson (although not entirely age appropriate tbf), Bertuzzi-type players to shadow Bedard and give him some level of comfort and protection out there while playing defensively sound hockey (Athanasiou is notoriously terrible in his own end).

That said, they're probably wanting to tank for one more season so even if it's lessor players on the cheap that can stick up for their teammates like Foligno, Wood, Hornqvist and/or a Gudas on the backend... they have to bulk up to insure the face of the franchise and (eventually) league.

If this season and playoffs taught us anything --- the Leafs and Panthers both serve as proof that the old school style of hockey is (thankfully) not going anywhere. That type of hockey is (and these types of players are) now in higher demand than they have been in many years after the colossal failure of the former and the incredible success of the pesky Panthers (and Golden Knights).

Teams in the East might dominate regular season hockey but (unless you're taking serious advantage of the LTIR loopholes) you have to build a team of real hockey players like they do in the West to have a shot at Lord Stanley's Cup.

End of the day, Blackhawks are back to being much watch TV with Bedard in the fold. As bad as they're going to be - that PP1 is going to be exciting with him, Reichel, Korchinski and Hall.