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Taylor Hall’s days as a member of the New Jersey Devils are numbered. It may only be a matter of hours.
The 2017-18 Hart Trophy winner sat out Friday night’s game against Colorado due to precautionary reasons, suggesting a deal could get done sooner than later.
Hall travelled with the Devils to Arizona. By the sounds of it, he may not leave with them.
Arizona is rumored to be one of the frontrunners – if not *the* frontrunner – and, really, it’s not all that surprising.
The Coyotes rank 10th in the NHL in points percentage despite sitting 25th in goals/60 at 5v5. They want to contend, they need more offense, and Hall would certainly provide it.
There are a couple ways to look at the Hall-to-Arizona rumors and potential hold ups.
For one, the Coyotes have no cap space. Depending on the pieces potentially involved in a Hall trade, Arziona may have to swing another deal to shed enough salary. That could be a factor.
These leaks could also be a ploy from GM Ray Shero. By all accounts, Colorado has been linked to Hall as the most likely trade destination from the word go. Suddenly, they’re not really being mentioned.
Bob McKenzie tweeted about Arizona.
John Shannon is tweeting about Arizona and St. Louis. No Colorado.
The Avs certainly have the assets to get a Hall deal done – perhaps more so than any team in the NHL.
While they simply may find the asking price too rich, rumors of a potentially imminent trade to a team that is, well, not the Avalanche could be a way making them believe they’re no longer in the mix and need to up their final offer to avoid missing out.
Whatever the case may be, it sure seems like we’ve already seen Taylor Hall suit up in the red and black for the last time.
Numbers via naturalstattrick.com
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