All calls for Taylor Hall as he swings through Alberta
Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now: With injuries mounting, the Colorado Avalanche and Joe Sakic are at least considering acquiring talent. How crazy would it be to acquire Taylor Hall from the New Jersey Devils?
With Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen out with injuries, the Colorado depth at the forward position is severely impacted. The depth has not panned out over the past seven games for Colorado as they have gone 1-5-1. Furthermore, more players are going down to injury – including Nikita Zadorov and Philipp Grubauer.
Joe Sakic acquiring talent would not surprise anyone. However, Landeskog and Rantanen will not be out a ton of time so Taylor Hall is probably not the answer. Besides, if Sakic covets Hall, he likely will wait until the summer of 2020 to make his move. Right now, even the trade deadline would be too early.
Marc Spector and Sean Reynolds of Sportsnet: Taylor Hall going through the old stomping grounds was bound to generate questions. Sure enough, the media asked plenty of those inquiries.
Hall stated simply this to answer some of the questions:
“You want to play on the best team possible, and I’ve played nine seasons in the NHL and only won one playoff game,” he said that day. “I only have so many more years left in this league, and so many more chances to win a Stanley Cup. It hasn’t even come close yet, so I kinda want to make up for lost time.”
About the Taylor Hall distractions, focus, and contract year…
Hall tried to not cause a distraction but New Jersey’s increasingly poor play has to do with his lack of production. The fans harped on the team and it affected Hall personally. He gestured when he finally scored his second goal of the season and that drew ire.
Everything in a contract year amplifies. Taylor Hall found that out the hard way and his focus is now on contributing to winning hockey games — whether in New Jersey or somewhere else this season.
The time is now to just play hockey and let the eventual chips and bargaining chips fall where they may.
