Montreal Canadiens: The next “stage” in the Taylor Hall story

The Montreal Canadiens have the flexibility to sign Taylor Hall if they want and the recent news with the Arizona Coyotes makes his departure more likely.

No team wants to be the drama series of their respective league, and unfortunately, the Arizona Coyotes are just that. It’s bad enough the things that have happened in the front office as well as the draft pick penalty, but what makes it worse is that they’re still trying to keep Taylor Hall throughout it. The Montreal Canadiens and the other teams interested in signing him shouldn’t be worried about a decision to stay, though. As hard as they may try, Hall is likely gone.

There have been two pieces of information anchoring the idea of Hall remaining a Coyote past the 2019-20 season.

The first comes with the fact that the Arizona Coyotes are legitimately heading to a rebuild. Without high-round picks in the next two drafts, that effort is going to be extremely difficult – and ironically, it makes sense for the Montreal Canadiens and Coyotes to talk trade on that front – but it’s also something Taylor Hall isn’t interested in.

Hall has been through a rebuild already. When the Edmonton Oilers initially drafted him, he was meant to be the beginning of a new era of winning. Instead, it was followed by three more draft lottery wins from poor regular seasons (2011 – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 2012 – Nail Yakupov and 2015 – Connor McDavid) before being moved to the New Jersey Devils for two more lottery wins in 2017 (Nico Hischier) and 2019 (Jack Hughes).

The Coyotes were meant to be his chance at a deeper run at a Stanley Cup Championship, but like many others, they stumbled for the rest of the season and were eliminated in the Qualifier.

Hall isn’t looking for money on his next deal and is willing to sacrifice making top-dollar on the open market to be put in a situation to win. That’s not what Arizona is going to be about, so the fact that they’ve made another pitch at the left-winger isn’t anything to bat an eye on.

And then there’s the financial aspect of the organization. The Coyotes have been hit heavily by the NHL pause, and besides the layoffs, player payment has felt some it as well.

It’s sounding like the Coyotes are getting messier and messier, and if anything, it’s more incentive for Hall to leave.

The first step is to ensure the Montreal Canadiens can get a meeting with him. Locking down their goaltending tandem for next season via Carey Price and Jake Allen should give Hall some pause. The playoffs over the years have continuously highlighted how impactful goaltending can be. If Marc Bergevin can frame the pitch such that signing Hall is the first step of many to get the team to championship calibre status, the Habs may have a shot.

There is the elephant in the room, however, in the fact that the hockey world wouldn’t have been able to see what Montreal could do in the playoffs if they weren’t included in this 24-team playoff format in the first place. Additionally, Hall has literally witnessed first hand that if you have stellar goaltending but no one to put the puck in the net, it doesn’t matter.

So the Taylor Hall story continues, and it won’t get a conclusion until November. However, the Montreal Canadiens have a lot to do in that time frame to prove to Hall and the rest of the NHL that they are legitimate.