Montreal Canadiens: Five Moves Habs Did NOT Make That Led To Playoff Success

Taylor Hall

While Matt Duchene probably leads the league in times one player “almost went to Montreal but didn’t,” Taylor Hall would be a close second. It seems like every year he is a trade target of the Habs.

However, last season saw him dealt from the New Jersey Devils to the Arizona Coyotes. The offseason saw him sign with the Buffalo Sabres. Then, he was dealt to the Boston Bruins midseason, but all three times he was rumoured to possibly be heading to Montreal to suit up for the Canadiens.

Hall is a great player and he has produced on every team he played for, aside from the Sabres, but no one produced there this season. He likely would have fit in well with the Canadiens and put up really strong offensive numbers. However, to sign him as a free agent would have cost the Habs at least the $8 million that the Sabres gave him.

To find room under the salary cap, the Habs would have had to stay away from Tyler Toffoli and Joel Edmundson in the offseason. They also may not have had enough pennies to sign Corey Perry at the last minute like they did. Or, at the very least, he would have needed to stay on the taxi squad a lot longer than he did to begin the year.

So, would Hall have been good in Montreal this season? Yeah, most likely. Would he have been as good as Tyler Toffoli who had 28 goals and 44 points in 52 games and another ten points in 11 postseason games? Probably not, and when you also take Edmundson off the roster to make room, it’s just not worth it.

Which is exactly why Bergevin didn’t do it.