Former Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brett Connolly, dealt to Boston ahead of Monday’s NHL trade deadline, will miss the rest of the season after breaking his hand in practice.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
The Boston Bruins have lost forward Brett Connolly for the remainder of the season with a broken hand.
General manager Peter Chiarelli said Connolly suffered a displaced fracture of his right index finger during practice on Wednesday. He's expected to be out of the lineup for the next six weeks.
Connolly was one of the key acquisitions for the Bruins leading up to the NHL's trade deadline on Monday as Boston attempts to protect their playoff spot in the East. Boston sits eighth in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of Florida in the race for the final playoff spot through Wednesday's games.
Boston sent a pair of second-round picks in 2015 and 2016 to the Lightning for Connolly, who had 12 goals and three assists in 50 games for Tampa Bay this season.
Connolly is scheduled to be a restricted free agent this summer.
"I see a top-six forward," Chiarelli said about the Connolly deal. "And if you look at all his goals, he's a shooter. He's a shooter first. He's a net-front guy. He'll go and get goals at the top of the blue (paint). He's a rangy guy. He makes plays, but he's a shoot-first guy. I really like his release. And he's young and he's growing and he's going to be a top-six player."
"Yeah, for sure, I think I'm going to get a little bit more of an opportunity in Boston," the 22-year-old said following the trade. "Obviously, we had a deep forward group in Tampa. So again, I've very excited to get to Boston and find out my role and meet the guys and kind of settle in."
Files from the Associated Press were used in this report