Hall trade talks intensify after Devils reveal their asking price

Business  is about to pick up when it comes to New Jersey Devils superstar Taylor Hall.

The New Jersey Devils’ superstar is a pending free agent and has made it clear to Devils management that he’s interested in at least testing the open market. And, at this point of his career, can you really blame him? Hall has seen the Stanley Cup Playoffs just once in his NHL career, despite putting up some MVP calibre play. In fact, Hall has named league MVP back in 2018 when he personally willed the Devils into the post-season.

But with free agency looming and with the Devils mired in one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history, you can’t blame Hall for looking at other options.

So… where might the former 1st overall pick end up?

NHL insider Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports that several teams seem to be in the mix for Hall including the Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens, Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames.

“As I reported Sunday morning, according to sources around the league, the Devils have begun to listen to trade offers for Hall, which they must do regardless of how it all ends up,” reports LeBrun.

Now, LeBrun’s counterpart over at Sportsnet Elliotte Friedman is reporting on the asking price for Hall from Devils GM Ray Shero. Check out these comments from Friedman from his latest 31 Thoughts column for Sportsnet:

The Taylor Hall trade talks have intensified, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen at this time.

“He’s trying,” another GM said of Shero.

The Devils have made it clear they want first-rounders (although they are willing to discuss conditional situations, depending on the acquiring team’s ability to re-sign Hall or playoff results) and/or high-level prospects who are ready to play. They badly need defence, which is why there’s a lot of focus on Colorado as the perfect trade partner. The Avalanche have plenty of defensive prospects and think they can win. Several teams believe Arizona is making a serious effort. Hall is what they need, too. It’s believed Dallas and St. Louis are among other pursuers.

I do think Edmonton’s interested, but there’s a limit. I’m not convinced the Oilers will pay what New Jersey wants.

Business is about to pick up!

If 2019 was the year of John Tavares and 2018 was the year of Artemi Panarin… well gear up for 2020, the year of Taylor Hall.