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Taylor Hall

Sabres Sign Taylor Hall

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There is a surprise winner of the Taylor Hall sweepstakes as the Sabres have announced that they’ve signed the winger to a one-year, $8MM contract. PuckPedia notes (Twitter link) that Hall will receive a $1MM signing bonus and full no-trade and no-move clauses.

This is certainly a surprise location for the 28-year-old as of the teams that had been rumored to be in on him, Buffalo hadn’t come up.  Hall is coming off of a fairly quiet season by his standards but he still put up 16 goals and 36 assists in 65 games between New Jersey and Arizona while chipping in with six points (two goals, four assists) in Arizona’s nine postseason games.

While still productive, those numbers are still well below his Hart-winning numbers from two years ago when he had 39 goals and 54 assists with the Devils.  His play since then has led to some questions of whether he has started to tail off or if it’s just a short-term dip which has made his UFA case an interesting one.  Between that and the pandemic, his chances for a big-money, long-term deal were basically non-existent so he had floated the idea of being willing to accept a short-term pact in the right situation.

It appears that the right situation is with Buffalo where he’ll join a familiar head coach in Ralph Krueger.  The two were together back in Edmonton for the first three years of Hall’s career from 2010-11 through 2012-13 with the winger putting up 50 points in 45 games, the third-best single-season point per game average of his career.

Hall, our number two rated UFA in our Top-50 list, should be an interesting option to play alongside Jack Eichel on Buffalo’s top line.  The center surpassed the point per game mark for the second straight season and would give Hall an opportunity to have a strong year offensively and try to position himself to be in a better situation for a more lucrative deal next season.  That would seemingly push Jeff Skinner down to the second line with RFA pivot Sam Reinhart, giving the Sabres two potentially strong scoring lines.

This is a deal with minimal risk for Buffalo.  If it doesn’t work out, there are no long-term repercussions on the cap and as an expiring contract, he’d carry some trade value closer to the trade deadline.  If Hall helps propel them to playoff contention (they’ve missed for nine straight years), it would seemingly give them a leg up on working out a new deal for 2021-22 and beyond.

Buffalo now has roughly $13.4MM in remaining cap space, per CapFriendly, the majority of which will be earmarked for their restricted free agents, highlighted by Reinhart, winger Victor Olofsson, and goalie Linus Ullmark.  Kevyn Adams has made some smaller moves to begin his tenure as Buffalo’s general manager but he has now made his first big splash.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report that the two sides were nearing a deal while TSN’s Darren Dreger was first with the $8MM price tag.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Arizona Coyotes Shopping Taylor Hall’s Negotiating Rights

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With just a few days remaining before Taylor Hall becomes an unrestricted free agent, the Arizona Coyotes are trying to recoup some of the value they spent to acquire the star forward. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the Coyotes are shopping Hall’s negotiating rights, which would give a team the chance to try and sign him before he even reaches the open market.

Just recently, reports surfaced that Hall would consider signing a short-term deal with a contender instead of trying to land the biggest deal possible in free agency. After a frustrating season that resulted in another early playoff exit, Hall has now played in just 14 postseason games over his ten-year career.

Earlier this summer we saw the Montreal Canadiens trade a fifth-round pick for the negotiating rights of defenseman Joel Edmundson, before eventually signing him to a four-year, $14MM deal. Given Hall’s status as the 2018 Hart Trophy winner and a top offensive winger, one would imagine the trade cost would be higher than that of a depth defenseman.

Still, it’s hard to know if acquiring him early would even be beneficial for a team interested in his services. Sitting just a few days away from the free agent market opening, Hall could easily just wait to see what kind of offers come from around the league. Negotiating with just one team would limit his options unless of course, he has a destination in mind that has already expressed interest to the Coyotes.

Hall, 28, scored 52 points in 65 games this season split between the New Jersey Devils and Coyotes. After reaching the 93-mark in 2018 and carrying the Devils to the playoffs, it’s been another few disappointing seasons. The first-overall pick in 2010, Hall has scored 563 points in 627 games but has played playoff matches in only two seasons.

Taylor Hall Considering Signing One-Year Deal With Contender

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Taylor Hall has played in the league for 10 years, but has appeared in a total of 14 playoff games. Despite being one of the top unrestricted free agents on the market, there are plenty of rumors that Hall is hoping for a big payday, but more than anything, the forward wants to play on a winner. With a flat salary cap coming this year, the Denver Post’s Mike Chambers writes that Hall might be willing to accept a one-year deal with a team like the Colorado Avalanche to play on a winning team and then test the free-agent market in a year, hopefully after the COVID-19 concerns have lightened up.

With the league being hit hard due to the coronavirus, most teams are reconsidering spending big when a flat cap could be a given for not just next year, but potentially the next few years. That isn’t good news for someone like Hall, who was looking to ink a long-term deal and with most of the top teams already close to being capped out, his goal of playing for a top team seems even more unlikely now.

However, Chambers writes that Hall is considering signing a one-year deal and Colorado is a team that makes the most sense as they are already one of the top teams in the league and the Avalanche have the cap space (approximately $21.5MM to spend) to at least offer a short-term deal. While the team’s top needs include a goaltender and some bottom-line toughness, but a top-six forward could be a great addition, especially on their second line. Hall might be the perfect fit alongside Nazem Kadri and restricted free agent Andre Burakovsky to form a second dominant line behind the Nathan MacKinnon–Mikko Rantanen–Gabriel Landeskog line.

Colorado general manager Joe Sakic seriously considered trading for Hall in December when the New Jersey Devils were shopping him. However, they decided against it, mainly because of the likely asking price and term that Hall would likely demand once his contract ran out at the end of the year. The team currently has plenty of cap space to work with, but the team will have to work out long-term deals for defenseman Cale Makar and Landeskog next year and still have to sign a number of restricted free agents this year, including Burakovsky and Ryan Graves.

If Colorado can get Hall on a one-year deal, then the team shouldn’t lose long-term cap space as well as they can see what kind of fit Hall is on their team. Since winning the Hart Trophy back in 2017-18, Hall has not been able to duplicate that type of season. He struggled with injuries in 2018-19, playing just 33 games and then struggled between New Jersey and the Arizona Coyotes with 16 goals and 52 points in 65 games.

Trade Rumors: Kuemper, Laine, Penguins

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There are many factors that have contributed to Darcy Kuemper being one of the most talked-about names on the rumor mill over the last couple of months. The first and most important is simply that the Arizona Coyotes must shed salary this off-season. The team is arguably in the worst salary cap situation of any NHL club, lacking any room to maneuver under the cap ceiling but with several restricted free agents and superstar trade acquisition Taylor Hall in need of new contracts. One area where they can trim the fat is in net, where Kuemper and Antti Raanta combine for $8.75MM against the cap and Adin Hill is also signed to a one-way contract and will need to clear waivers this season. Of the three, not only does Kuemper carry the highest cap hit, he is also undoubtedly the most valuable on the trade market. The 30-year-old was one of the best goalies in the NHL this season and is signed for two more years at a bargain relative to his performance. While this is seemingly a perfect storm of reasons why Kuemper should be dealt, new GM Bill Armstrong won’t let him go that easy. AZ Sports’ Craig Morgan reports that after Armstrong was hired last week, the asking price for Kuemper went up. An offer must now surpass the value of just one first-round pick in order to pry the talented netminder out of Arizona. If they are not satisfied, the Coyotes will not trade Kuemper. Although his trade value is depleted after a pair of injury-plagued seasons, the team could get nearly as much cap savings from moving Raanta, whose contract expires after this season. While Kuemper is the morename, don’t be surprised to see Raanta move instead barring a top-notch offer.

  • Patrik Laine is another one of the hot names on the rumor mill right now, with reports that the Winnipeg Jets are “serious” about moving the young scoring forward. However, Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe doused those flames somewhat by stating that the Jets’ priority is still to re-sign Laine. It would be difficult for the team to get fair value for Laine and although they have more pressing needs than winger elsewhere on the roster, they could very well be better off holding on to the 22-year-old. A restricted free agent after next season, Laine will command a substantial salary that Winnipeg may find difficult to afford. Yet, Wiebe believes that current trade talks may be overblown so long as the two sides are still amenable to an extension, believing a trade to be more likely next summer – if a deal cannot be reached – rather than pulling the trigger early this off-season. Unless the Jets get exactly what they ask for in exchange for Laine, they have time before they need to get too serious about a trade.
  • The most active team on the trade market so far has been the Pittsburgh Penguins, but things may begin to slow down for GM Jim Rutherford and his club. In a radio interview on Friday, Rutherford stated that his recent acquisition of defensemen Michael Matheson is not a precursor to another major trade regarding his top defensemen. Although there is a considerable logjam on the left side of the Pittsburgh blue line, top-four lefties Brian Dumoulin and Marcus Pettersson will not be traded. Matheson is expected to play on the left side of the team’s third pair, forcing Jack Johnson and Juuso Riikola to compete for a starting job on their off-side with righty Chad Ruhwedel. Matheson’s acquisition has also squashed the Penguins’ interest in free agent defenseman Chris Tanev and others, as Rutherford added that he does not anticipate adding to his defense corps on the open market.

Latest On Taylor Hall’s Pending Free Agency

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One of the most interesting storylines to follow this offseason will be the future of Arizona Coyotes forward Taylor Hall. The 28-year old forward took home a Hart Trophy in 2018 after carrying the New Jersey Devils to the playoffs, but has been rather disappointing since. After what looked like a breakout season where he turned into a legitimate superstar, Hall came back with an injury-riddled 2018-19 and found himself traded midway through the 2019-20 season. The Devils received what many saw as an underwhelming return for the former MVP and Arizona didn’t get enough out of Hall to help them push deep into the playoffs.

Now, he’s just a month away from becoming an unrestricted free agent in an offseason that may see salaries squeezed because of the revenue shortage. The NHL has locked in a flat salary cap for the next few years, making mistakes even more dangerous for clubs looking to improve through free agency. In Hall’s case, the forward has expressed a desire to get some stability and head to an organization that has a chance to compete. The Coyotes, after their first playoff appearance in nearly a decade, will try to make him believe that they represent that chance as Darren Dreger of TSN reports Arizona will make another pitch to Hall today to try and re-sign him.

Of course, Arizona doesn’t seem like the most stable organization at the moment. Earlier this summer they had to deal with GM John Chayka’s departure, an ugly public affair that included his resignation just a few days before they were set to start their qualification round. Steve Sullivan took over in the meantime, but just last week the team was hammered by the NHL with a penalty for breaking draft rules. The team was stripped of a first and second-round pick, meaning they currently have just a single pick in the first three rounds of this year and next. In fact, the 2021 third-round pick that they gave up for Hall could even be increased to a second should he decide to re-sign in Arizona.

Losing draft picks is one thing, but according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Coyotes are also potentially going to “test the marketplace” on captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who has seven years remaining on his expensive contract. Friedman also mentioned star goaltender Darcy Kuemper as a “very attractive piece” in potential trade talks, though it’s not clear if the Coyotes want to move him. If the team is simultaneously shedding their highest-paid, but best players, it’s hard to imagine the pitch that the Coyotes are giving to Hall to stick around.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Arizona Coyotes Sign Blake Speers To One-Year Deal

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The Arizona Coyotes have signed forward Blake Speers, a player they acquired along with Taylor Hall in the big December trade last year, to a one-year, two-way contract, according to AZ Sports’ Matt Layman. Speers’ extension is worth $735K if he makes the Coyotes squad or $70K if he plays with Tucson next season, according to PuckPedia.

Speers appeared to be the forgotten name in the trade that sent him and Hall to Arizona for a 2020 first-rounder, a 2021 conditional third-rounder, defensive prospect Kevin Bahl, and AHL prospects Nick Merkley and Nate Schnarr. Many believe that Speers was included in the deal to give the Tucson Roadrunners an extra body to fill in the roster there. However, Speers had some success in Tucson, scoring four goals and nine points in nine games, his best performance since his rookie season in 2017-18 when he potted 12 goals in Binghamton.

Speers is likely to play another season in Tucson as he has already played in 145 AHL games compared to three games (played back in 2017) in the NHL.

Snapshots: Johnson, Boudreau, Hall

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The Pittsburgh Penguins were upset by the Montreal Canadiens in the qualification round, meaning they didn’t qualify for the regular 16-team Stanley Cup playoffs. That’s the first time since 2006, meaning it was easy to understand why GM Jim Rutherford wants to make some changes. What might be less easy to understand is Rutherford’s continued defense of Jack Johnson, which continued today in a piece by Josh Yohe of The Athletic.

Here’s my summary of this situation. Maybe Jack Johnson isn’t as good as I think he is. Maybe. But he’s not as bad as all of the anti-Jack Johnson people think he is. I’ll tell you what he is: He’s a solid, third-pairing defenseman if he’s playing with the right guy. He’s a player that I happen to really like and I think he’s a better player than a lot of people want to give him credit for.

Johnson has never had strong analytics behind his play, but through the first part of his career, produced consistent offensive numbers in bigger minutes. Rutherford and the Penguins signed him to a five-year, $16.25MM deal in 2018 that still has three seasons remaining. If changes are coming, it doesn’t currently look like Johnson is one, though Rutherford has been known to reconsider early-offseason comments before.

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have an assistant coach opening beside Sheldon Keefe after Paul McFarland returned to the OHL to take over head coaching and GM duties of the Kingston Frontenacs. Speculation immediately went to former Maple Leafs player Bruce Boudreau, who is looking for work after being fired by the Minnesota Wild this season. Boudreau has long been a candidate to join the Maple Leafs given his ties to and support of the organization, and now James Mirtle of The Athletic reports that the team asked Minnesota for permission to speak with him over the last few months. Boudreau, understandably, is looking for another head coaching opportunity before considering an assistant job, but is “intrigued by the idea” according to Mirtle.
  • The Arizona Coyotes were outscored 14-2 by the Colorado Avalanche in their final two games of the postseason and now have plenty of work to do this offseason. Not only do they have Steve Sullivan quickly taking the reins as GM after the departure of John Chayka, but have a huge decision to make on the future of Taylor Hall. The 28-year-old forward is a pending free agent, and Craig Button of TSN doesn’t believe the Coyotes should even entertain re-signing him. Button explains that the Coyotes don’t have the supporting cast to justify signing Hall to an expensive, long-term contract—though he then suggests that Hall should be looking for a one-year deal with a contender to rebuild his value.

Draft Pick Fall Out From Qualifying Round Results

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It was a dark day in the NHL on Friday as five teams were eliminated from playoff contention and, barring a miraculous last-minute comeback by the Toronto Maple Leafs, it could have been six-for-six. While the focus on these pivotal games yesterday was on those teams advancing and those team going home, there were also numerous draft picks impacted:

  • In addition to yesterday’s winners, it was also a big day for the New Jersey Devils. In a year in which the draft class is lauded for its depth, particularly in impact forwards, the Devils are now the proud owners of three first-round picks. New Jersey acquired Arizona’s first-rounder in the Taylor Hall trade and Vancouver’s first-rounder from Tampa Bay in the Blake Coleman However, both picks were lottery protected. Now that the Coyotes and Canucks have advanced, they will not take part in Monday’s second draft lottery to determine the No. 1 pick and as a result their picks have officially been sent to the Devils.
  • The Ottawa Senators will also have three picks in the first round of the 2020 Draft. Already owners of their own pick and San Jose’s, the Senators officially acquired the New York Islanders’ pick yesterday. The Isles had sent a lottery-protected first-rounder to Ottawa in the Jean-Gabriel Pageau trade, but with New York moving one they will not be in the running for a lottery pick. There is also a conditional 2020 second-round pick involved in that deal which will transfer to the Senators if the Islanders win the Stanley Cup. That dream for now remains alive for New York.
  • The clock is ticking on the Pittsburgh Penguins. The first-round pick that the team sent to the Minnesota Wild in the Jason Zucker trade contained a condition that the Penguins could keep the pick if it landed in the top 15. Now that the team has been surprisingly knocked out of the postseason, their first-rounder will fall in that range. They now have seven days to decided whether or not to retain the pick and send their 2021 first-round pick instead or to simply trade their 2020 selection. Obviously, the team will wait for the results of Monday night’s lottery, but regardless it seems likely that the Penguins will keep the pick and bet on themselves to make the playoffs next season.
  • One first-round pick that still remains undecided is the pick that will transfer to the New York Rangers as part of the Brady Skjei When the Carolina Hurricanes acquired Skjei, they promised the Rangers the later of their two first-rounders, their own and the Toronto Maple Leafs’, acquired alongside Patrick Marleau. However, the Toronto pick has conditions of its own; if the Leafs pick lands in the top 10, they will retain the selection and transfer their 2021 first-rounder instead. The only way for this to occur would be for Toronto to both lose Game Five against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday and then win the No. 1 overall pick in Monday’s draft lottery. If the Maple Leafs lose both the game and the lottery, their pick will be No. 13 and by default will be earlier than Carolina’s, meaning the Hurricanes’ own pick will go to the Rangers. Should Toronto win on Sunday, it will remain to be seen how far each team goes in the playoffs and which pick will head to New York.

Return To Play Represents Opportunity For Pending Free Agents

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For an NHL player, the Stanley Cup playoffs represent a fleeting opportunity to cement your legacy. By hoisting that chalice even once in your career, you join a relatively small group of players that can be identified as champions.

It doesn’t happen for everyone.

Just ask Patrick Marleau, who played the first of his 191 career playoff games on April 24, 1998, and is still chasing that elusive Cup to this day. Or Jason Spezza, who reached the Finals in 2007 as a 23-year old but ended up taking a minimum-salary contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs this season—more than a decade later—in the hopes that he could get another chance.

After such a long break in 2020, players across 24 of the league’s 31 teams will get the chance to write their names in the history books, their legacy forever changed.

But for a select group, the Stanley Cup is not the only thing that could be raised. For those on expiring contracts, a strong playoff (or a particularly weak one) could result in a huge difference in salary they can demand this offseason.

Take Braden Holtby, who must have licked his lips when he watched Sergei Bobrovsky sign a seven-year, $70MM contract with the Florida Panthers last offseason. Holtby, whose own deal expires after the 2019-20 season, was comparable to Bobrovsky in many ways and potentially could have demanded a similar contract. For whatever reason though, Holtby struggled this season to find the form that won him a Vezina Trophy in 2016 and a Stanley Cup in 2018. He finished the year with an .897 save percentage, easily the worst number in his ten-year career.

Holtby was also pushed by young goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who looked ready to take over as the Washington Capitals starter when the older netminder moved on. There was no guarantee that Holtby would even be the team’s starter in the playoffs, but now he has been given that opportunity with an injury to Samsonov. As we saw in 2018 after he took the net back from Philipp Grubauer, Holtby only needs a chance. Should he take Washington deep and play to his former caliber, there will be many who point to the 2019-20 season as an exception, not a trend.

What about Robin Lehner, who is battling with a playoff legend for the chance to start for the Vegas Golden Knights? The outspoken goaltender has been one of the league’s best for several years now (if not longer, despite his unfortunate record in Buffalo), but still found himself taking short-term “prove-it” deals with the New York Islanders and Chicago Blackhawks. Lehner will only be 29 when he starts the 2020-21 season and deserves a long-term contract at this point. Wrestling control of the Vegas net from Marc-Andre Fleury (a three-time Cup winner) and taking the Golden Knights deep would only strengthen his case.

And then there is Taylor Hall, the enigmatic forward who just can’t seem to get to the playoffs. The first-overall pick from 2010 has played just five games in the NHL postseason (scoring six points), missing the tournament altogether in nine of his ten seasons.

By no means was Hall at his best this year, but his 2017-18 Hart Trophy-winning season has shown us that when he is he can carry a team nearly singlehanded. Could a strong playoff for the Arizona Coyotes push that five-year, $7.25MM price tag substantially higher?

For some pending free agents like Alex Pietrangelo and Torey Krug, an excellent playoff would just be par for the course at this point. They are expected to perform at that level and have done it many times in the past. But for others—how about Alex Galchenyuk’s spiraling career?—this postseason is about more than just their legacy, it’s about the future.

Peter Chiarelli Linked To Arizona Coyotes

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Though the Arizona Coyotes are still reeling from the sudden departure of GM John Chayka on the eve of the postseason, this hasn’t stopped the speculation of what could be next for the front office. Steve Sullivan has been named interim GM for the time being, but the team may look at other options as well. One such possibility that has been mentioned by two separate sources is former Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli.

Scott Burnside of The Athletic writes that he has heard from others that Chiarelli remains a trusted name in NHL circles and one that league officials would like to help find a new home. Arizona, perhaps the team that the league has assisted most through the years, would seemingly be a good pairing. Oilers beat writer Jim Matheson adds to the theory, stating that this is not the first he has heard Chiarelli linked to the Coyotes. Matheson applauds the promotion of Sullivan but does not rule out Chiarelli joining the front office in some capacity. While many consider Chiarelli’s tenure in Edmonton to be a disaster, he did create a Stanley Cup winner in Boston and still has plenty of supporters.

However, it’s unlikely that current Coyotes star Taylor Hall is among Chiarelli’s fans. The impending free agent was traded away from Edmonton, a city and team he enjoyed playing for, by Chiarelli. If Arizona thinks they have a chance to sign Hall this off-season, Chiarelli could be a problem. His hiring would likely indicate that Hall is not in the team’s future plans. Given the team’s tight salary cap space, this is a strong possibility anyhow. There’s also the chance that if consulted Chiarelli would opt against signing Hall long-term anyway. After all, the return that Chiarelli got for trading Hall from Edmonton to New Jersey would imply that he doesn’t highly value the player.

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