Lower acquisition price keeps the Oilers in on Taylor Hall
Jesse Gregor: “Holland has always had interest in acquiring Hall. He and Shero have had talks for the past three weeks. Whether their offer is as good as what other teams offers remains to be seen. Is he willing to outbid teams is the bringing question.”
David Staples: “The longer Taylor Hall trade saga/fiasco goes on, the lower his acquisition price gets, the more that it’s clear he’s simply a rental & that the market isn’t huge, the greater the odds he ends up in Edmonton. If the price is low enough, he makes sense with #Oilers as a rental.”
David Staples: “Here’s a puzzler on the Hall trade fiasco… If Hall was open to a new contract, he would command more in trade for NJ, correct? But it’s being reported that NJ won’t allow prospective trading partners to now talk new contract with Hall. Why not? Why would NJ not allow this?”
Could the Oilers afford to sign Hall as a free agent?
Jonathan Willis of The Athletic: The speculation of the Edmonton Oilers and Taylor Hall reuniting have been around for years.
The Oilers need more scoring behind Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. If Hall was interested in signing with the Oilers on/after July 1st, would the Oilers be able to afford his next contract?
They do have some salary coming off the books this offseason, but there are several holes that need to be filled.
As of now the Oilers have 10 players under contract for next season at $57.5 million. That number includes the buyouts and salary retention for Benoit Pouliot, Andrej Sekera and Milan Lucic.
That leaves around $26 million for 13 players. Darnell Nurse and Zack Kassian will also be looking for new contracts.
Kris Russell has a $4 million cap hit but only a $2.5 million salary, so that might interest someone. The Oilers might be able to move him and not take back any salary. A low budget replacement on the third pairing opens up about $3 million if Russel is moved.