TSN: Craig Button may not agree with the talk that Taylor Hall would be a good fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“Well, let me be clear here. I mean Taylor Hall is a good player. So to say that he wouldn’t be a fit for the Leafs isn’t fair. I think what you’ve got to look at, okay, aside from the salary and potentially the financial gymnastics you’d have to go through,
It’s like, what does Taylor Hall bring your team? He’s a fast player. He’s really good on the rush, but to be really good on the rush he needs a centerman or a winger that can make plays and get him the puck in the neutral zone so that he can attack. He’s not a great finisher but he’s a threatening player and he creates space.
But at the same time, you’re also going to need a centerman that can play with him, that can support him without the puck. Because to get the best out of a Taylor Hall, you got to let him be free a bit. If you’re going to get him to play within very defined lanes, you’re not going to get the best out of Taylor Hall.
Nobody would say that adding him to your team isn’t significant, but at the same time, I think if they put their sights to a different type of player, a Blake Coleman type player. I’ve mentioned Miles Wood. Nick Foligno is on the trade bait board. Those types of players, those heavy, weighty players that might not cost you as much with respect to what you got to do with your salary cap or with respect to what you might have to give up. I think that those types of players would be a great fit.
I think that if you want to add more skill then Taylor Hall has it but I don’t the Leafs need more skill. I think they need more of that hard-driving, skating-type player that can be a physical presence. You know Jay, I’ve been part of a lot of trade deadlines. I’ve covered a lot of trade deadlines. I don’t know if you and Chobi go to a lot of garage sales. You pop into a garage sale and you see a book, right, and you go ‘oh, that looks interesting,’ You really want the book? No. You might have even read the book. but you go that is interesting, but you end up buying the book because it was a good deal. A lot of that happens on trade deadline, heading into the trade. A lot of teams get players. Yeah, it looks nice. Yeah, the deal was okay. But do you really need them?”
