Detroit Red Wings: 5 Free Agents to sign this offseason
By Bob Heyrman
Taylor Hall
Why not make a splash for a top-six scoring forward? Taylor Hall has been a heavily traveled forward in recent years. The former first overall pick of the Edmonton Oilers was dealt from Edmonton to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for defenseman Adam Larsson.
Hall went on to win the Hart Trophy, which is awarded to the league’s most valuable player as a member of the Devils. The re-building Devils then moved the pending unrestricted free agent to the surging Arizona Coyotes earlier this season, but trade rumors continued to follow Hall. Although he wasn’t moved again this year, his name continued to circulate the 2020 trade deadline.
The Arizona Coyotes are not expecting to retain Hall (at this point), making him the second-biggest pending free agent forward at the moment. The top unrestricted free agent forward will be Mikko Rantanen, but I don’t expect the Avalanche will allow him to hit the open market. Arizona will have plenty of time to mull over their options with Hall during the hiatus, but I expect Hall to eventually hit the open market.
Taylor Hall played his junior hockey across the river in Windsor, Ontario leading the Windsor Spitfires to back to back Memorial Cup Championships.
Money talks, but maybe Yzerman can lure Hall to Detroit knowing he spent a lot of time in Windsor understanding he’d have plenty of familiar, supporting faces just 20-minutes away.
Hall earned the Hart Trophy after producing 39 goals and 93 points in 76 games played in 2017-18. Since then, the goals haven’t come so easily for Hall, he scored 11 and totaled 37 points the following year in 33 games after suffering a season-ending injury. This season in 65 games, he’s recorded just 16 goals but 52 points.
He’d become Detroit’s top offensive forward; he’d elevate the player around him along with taking some offensive pressure off of Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, and Tyler Bertuzzi. Detroit would have an opportunity to spread out some offense rather than just relying on the top line to win every game.
Hall is just 28-years old with plenty left in the tank. If Detroit can sign the forward to a five-year deal, no one should complain, but Hall may be seeking a seven-year, $77-million deal. I’d expect Hall to seek the maximum seven-year contract free agents are able to sign. Arizona will be the only team able to offer him an eight-year deal, but they have an abundance of others to sign.