Montreal Canadiens: How does the John Chayka situation affect Taylor Hall?
By Omar L
According to John Gambadoro, a sports radio host in Arizona, Taylor Hall was offered five years at about $7 million per.
The Coyotes are right up against the salary cap despite possibly having money come off the books. Carl Soderberg’s $4.75 million cap-hit could be gone as well as Brad Richardson’s $1 million, but that’s not much to work with. There are also the optics of it all.
Arizona signed their young star Clayton Keller to an eight-year extension ahead of the 2019-20 season that carries a $7.15 million cap hit. Management might see that as the ceiling as far as how much a forward can make on this team. Hall also didn’t do himself any favours by not popping off this season.
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He had 6 goals and 19 assists for 25 points in 30 games with New Jersey before the trade and added 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points in 35 games afterwards. His point generation decreased when he moved to the better team dropping from 0.83 to 0.77. That’s concerning and not worth any of those grander numbers some thought Hall could ask for once he hit free agency.
The flat salary cap is also a problem all teams must deal with, and as I mentioned earlier, the Arizona Coyotes don’t have much to work with. And of course, this should all be music to the ears of the Montreal Canadiens.
With how dysfunctional the team looks at the moment, it’s hard to see Hall wanting to remain there. There also didn’t seem to be an appropriate fit for the 28-year-old when he was a Coyote save for some sparks of chemistry between himself and Phil Kessel.