Boston Bruins’ Taylor Hall to return to lineup vs. New Jersey Devils

The Boston Bruins will get another boost to their lineup, as winger Taylor Hall will be returning to action on Saturday night against the New Jersey Devils.

Hall had been out of the lineup since February 25th when he suffered a lower-body injury. The Bruins have gone 16-4-0 in his absence, largely in part to some trade deadline additions to add to their depth. With his return, the Bruins will get a look at what a mostly healthy forward lineup looks like outside of David Krejci’s current lower-body injury.

Hall will slot in on the third line alongside Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic, the two forwards he’s spent the most time with this season. In 164:04 of 5v5 ice time together, they have a 56.21% shot attempt share and a 61.16% expected goal share. Hall will also return to the second power play unit, along with Charlie McAvoy, Pavel Zacha, and trade deadline additions Tyler Bertuzzi and Dmitri Orlov.

While Hall isn’t producing like his Hart Trophy winning days, he’s still been an excellent secondary scoring option, especially as their forward depth grows post-trade deadline. He had 16 goals, 20 assists, and 36 points in 58 games this season before his injury.

Hall was a former first round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2010, and has spent time with the Oilers, New Jersey Devils, Arizona Coyotes, and Buffalo Sabres over the course of his 13-season career before joining the Bruins at the trade deadline in 2021. He’s currently in the second year of a four-year deal with a $6 million cap hit, one he signed with the Bruins after finishing the 2021 season with them.

Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy will also be in the lineup tonight after leaving Thursday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs early with an injury. Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said it was more of a precaution that they took with nothing to play for, and the injury wasn’t a serious one.

Standings-wise, the Bruins do in fact have nothing to play for, as they already have the Presidents’ Trophy clinched with an 18-point gap on the next best team. However, they’re still chasing history, as their 61-12-5 record has them within reach of both the single-season points record of 132 and single-season wins record of 62, with the Bruins having 127 and 61 respectively with four games remaining.