The NHL trade deadline is 10 days away and the possibility of Taylor Hall being moved on grows with each loss the Arizona Coyotes pick up. After their 3-2 loss at the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, Arizona currently sit in the second wildcard spot in the Western Division and 5th in the Pacific Division behind the Calgary Flames, Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks.
Hall was traded to Arizona from the New Jersey Devils on December 16th 2019 along with Blake Speers for a 2020 lottery protected first round pick, a conditional third round pick in 2021, Nate Schwartz, Nick Merkley and Kevin Bahl. The plan was for the Coyotes to go deep into the playoffs and possibly even re-sign the upcoming unrestricted free agent. Both are looking unlikely at this moment.
Since the arrival of Hall, Arizona have gone 9-12-4 and slipped from first in the Division to fifth. Given, there is still a lot to play for and the Pacific Division is incredibly tight, with only five points separating Arizona from the Vancouver Canucks in first. However, could the Coyotes look to offload Hall before the February 24th Deadline?
Rumor has it that Hall plans to test the free agency market in the summer. The 2010 first overall draft pick by the Edmonton Oilers is a huge fan of John Tavares and apparently wants to follow in his footsteps by becoming a free agent before deciding where he wants to go. With this in mind, and given the Cototes current position, you begin to think If Arizona can salvage anything from this deal.
Most teams challenging for the playoffs would like to add a piece of Taylor Hall’s caliber. Despite the team’s record Hall has record 20 points in 24 games for Arizona and can hardly be blamed single handedly on the collapse. His also registered 25 points in 30 games for the Devils before being traded.
Obviously in an ideal world Arizona would hold on to Taylor Hall, make the playoffs and then anything can happen, à la Columbus Blue Jackets last year who went all in, but if like last year the Coyotes barely miss out on the playoffs after going all in on Hall you’d have to ask ‘who loses their job?’
