The Montreal Canadiens are in the perfect position to sign Taylor Hall
Taylor Hall didn’t help himself this season too much, and if his asking price has dropped, the Montreal Canadiens have an opportunity to make a decent pitch.
The “Player X has burnt money” line has been applicable to a lot of players this season. Max Domi falls into that category with the Montreal Canadiens after following up a spectacular 72-point campaign with one lacking the same flare. Tyson Barrie did the same with the Toronto Maple Leafs as it looked like he could fall in the high 8s or even 9s before the trade. Taylor Hall, on the other hand, is the mayor of Burnt-money-ville.
Hall has had an interesting career after being selected first overall at the 2010 NHL Draft winning the ‘Taylor vs. Tyler’ against Tyler Seguin. It was a relatively slow progression to stardom, but the dysfunctionality of the Edmonton Oilers held Hall from reaching that ultimate level. His best season saw him score 27 goals and 53 assists for 80 points in 75 games, but none of those six seasons in Edmonton included a 30-goal campaign.
Then came the day that took the NHL by storm. Montreal Canadiens fans will remember this as it was the same day P.K. Subban was traded to the Nashville Predators in exchange for current team captain Shea Weber. A one-for-one deal saw Hall move to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Adam Larsson.
The trade was vilified from the beginning, and Hall looked to be on a mission to prove the Oilers they made a grave mistake despite having Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the system.
Unfortunately, Hall’s first season in New Jersey looked similar to his early years in Edmonton. The then 25-year-old put up 20 goals and 33 assists on his way to another season without the playoffs, but things changed for the 2017-18 campaign.
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Hall willed the Devils into the playoffs while his 39 goals and 54 assists earned him the Hart Memorial Trophy. New Jersey didn’t do much as they ran into the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. They did manage to get a game on the Lightning while Hall scored 2 goals and 4 assists.
But further misfortune came for Hall. Injuries held him to only 33 games the next season while this past one saw the New Jersey Devils at the bottom of the NHL despite adding some key names over the offseason.
It was time for a new start for Hall once again. He took his 6 goals and 19 assists in 30 games and moved back to the west coast to join the Arizona Coyotes on their hunt for a playoff spot.
As fate would have it, things didn’t improve. Hall managed to put up 10 goals and 17 assists, but the Coyotoes fell from their division spot and are on the outside looking in. The only way they’d make the playoffs at this point is if the NHL decides to go for the 24-team format, which would see Arizona make it as the 22nd seed.
Taylor Hall was a player who couldn’t wait to get to free agency after that Hart performance two years ago, and instead of being looked at as an answer, he’s constantly seen as the problem. The Calgary native is a fascinating name heading into free agency as there is no clear number to assign to him. Some thought he could be in the high 9s or perhaps even hit double digits, but seeing his play this season should warrant caution from other teams.
Hall does have a determined agent in Darren Ferris to see this through, though. He became pretty infamous in Toronto with his handling of the Mitch Marner deal; it will be tough to expect anything similar to the same thing with Hall. Don’t get me wrong; teams will call for his services. Though it doesn’t seem this will be the year he hits the jackpot, especially with the financial impacts on the salary cap, thanks to the pause.
This is a perfect situation for the Montreal Canadiens.
Taylor Hall was likely already a player the Habs had in mind of pursuing. That Hart season was no fluke by any means as Hall has had the inkling to take over games in his arsenal for years. It’s putting him in the appropriate situation that will make the difference.
Cap-wise, the Habs are in a perfect position to take him on. They have $4.5 million in cap space with more contracts to go and further contracts to come off the books. Other teams around the league are up against the ceiling, and the ones who have space require it to re-sign key players.
At the same time, Hall has been on rebuilding teams before, and I doubt he wants to go through that again. Keep in mind Hall has only made the playoffs once. Teams with space such as the Los Angeles Kings have space but will be bottom-feeders for some time as they try to build through the draft.
The Habs have a mix of young performing talent and still have Carey Price, which should be a vote of confidence for anyone. Sure, he hasn’t been up to his godly standards this season, but Price gives you an opportunity to win.
Montreal lost several games this season by either not being able to score or by being too run and gun without having the structure to hold teams off from generating chances. Hall isn’t a Selke by any means, but he can surely help with adding to the offence and adding some more control to the power play.
There is one team who may get in the way of this, that being the Ottawa Senators. They’re another team on the rebuild, but it’s possible they hit the grand prize at the NHL draft with three first-round picks. Two of them could easily be in the top five, which may swing things on the ascending side for the Senators in the next year or two.
It’ll come down to what the Montreal Canadiens have to offer. Hall will be a star in a Canadian market and possibly be the face of a playoff run. At the same time, the Habs may be able to get the left-winger signed to a justifiable number on either end.
Hall is coming off a contract that came with a $6 million cap hit. If the Habs can get that to around $8 million, it can work in the long-run. Matt Duchene was signed to that cap hit last summer while players such as Claude Giroux ($8.25 million) are in a similar point window as Hall.
Making $9 million would be unjustifiable with players like Mark Stone and Nikita Kucherov at $9 and $9.5 million, respectively. On the other hand, Jeff Skinner signed for $9 million over eight years with the Buffalo Sabres after putting up 40 goals last season. Ferris may push for something similar, but again, the salary cap structure is going to stunt a lot of those high demands.
The Montreal Canadiens don’t want to get into a bidding war for Taylor Hall. But if Marc Bergevin is committed to making the team competitive, it’s a great opportunity to add. It will surely come with the departure of others, but that’s the price you have to pay sometimes. If Bergevin didn’t pay that price back when Hall joined the Devils, Shea Weber wouldn’t be here.