Hall Monitor: Taylor Hall scratched among Sabres trade watch
Taylor Hall was held out of last night’s game against his former New Jersey team, which ended in a 5-3 Buffalo Sabres victory.
Trade talks surrounding the 29-year-old left-wing are reportedly heating up. The offseason prize of the free agency class, Hall came to Buffalo with optimism, seeing the potential in the Sabres roster and in the success the team’s ownership has had with the Buffalo Bills.
Should Hall be traded, it will be the latest move in a swift series of changes by the franchise and GM Kevyn Adams to retool ahead of another draft and free agency period.
Adams has been active in responding to the Sabres struggles this season, firing coach Ralph Krueger and streamlining the teams’ reboot by trading players like Eric Staal and Jonas Johansson to acquire assets. The GM looks to continue to bolster the team that captain Jack Eichel expressed dissatisfaction with last year and to find the same success he experienced building a club in Carolina, which lead to a Stanley Cup Championship.
“This is a results business, but if you do the right things shift in and shift out, you start to win shifts, and then you win periods and then you win hockey games,” Adams said while addressing the media during a conference call on March 5th. “Let’s not overcomplicate this. We want to be better. We have to be better and we will be better.”
Adams mentioned he’d had conversations with Hall’s agent, Darren Ferris, regarding all potential options for the forward ahead of next Monday’s April 12th trade deadline.
“We’re open to anything and everything,” Adams said. “My job is to do anything and everything to make this franchise move in the right direction. I have a very good relationship with Darren Ferris and Taylor.”
The Sabres are expected to take on some of Hall’s $8 million contract if they trade him. He is only on a one-year deal and has expressed interest in signing long-term with Buffalo, leaving the door open to a return.
“I think I’ve enjoyed my time here. I really like the guys, the coaching staff, the way we’re treated as players,” said Hall this season to the Buffalo News.
“I was never treating this as a one-year thing,” added Hall. “I was always coming into it open-minded and we’ll have to see what happens here, if there’s interest on their side. But yeah, of course I have interest.”
Next. As season concludes, Sabres will look to minors for help. dark
As of now, it seems obvious that Hall will be traded before the April 12th trade deadline. But all we can do now is wait and see how it all plays out.