Following offseason rumors can be a bit of a rollercoaster, and the reports and rumors around Taylor Hall over the last week or so have been a good example.
To recap: Last week, Darren Dreger reported the Maple Leafs would have interest in Hall if he gets to the open market. He also reiterated that Hall still prefers to stay in Boston, something Hall has said repeatedly ever since he got here. So, OK… outside interest isn’t really a problem if the Bruins don’t let him get to the open market.
Then on Wednesday, the @NHLRumorsDaily account tweeted that the Bruins and Hall were “disconnected on term” (length of contract), but “around the same ballpark on AAV” (average annual value) at roughly $5.5 million. So, half-discouraging, half-encouraging there. Still plenty of time to figure things out before free agency opens on July 28.
The next day, on Thursday, it seemed like things were getting figured out. Bally Sports’ Andy Strickland reported that a Hall return to Boston is “moving in that direction.” Another rumor later in the day suggested a new deal could be announced shortly after Wednesday’s expansion draft for 4-5 years at $5.5-6 million per year.
OK! Now we’re talking. Really positive all around. Waiting to announce anything until after the expansion draft makes sense because it would allow the Bruins to protect someone else and not have to make Hall one of their seven protected forwards (those protection lists are due Saturday).
All set, right? Just a matter of time? Well… then came Friday morning and the 31 Thoughts podcast with Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek. First, while discussing Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog heading to free agency, Friedman said he “wonders about a team like Boston.”
Hold on. What is there to wonder about? Isn’t Hall already going to be signed by then? There’s no way the Bruins would splurge for both, right? Well, here was his update on Hall:
“There was a time when I thought there was potentially a deal in the drawer here. I'm less convinced that's the case right now,” Friedman said, as transcribed by Ian McLaren. “We'll see. I think there's a lot of teams poking around on Hall.”
And then if you want to make all this even more complicated, there’s this @NHLRumorsDaily (important to stress the “rumors” part) tweet suggesting the Bruins might have interest in Maple Leafs winger Zach Hyman, who is also on the verge of free agency.
So… WHAT??? Is a Hall deal close or not? Are they turning their eyes toward Landeskog instead? What is going on here?
Sure, Landeskog has been a more consistent player than Hall the last few years and he’s a year younger, so that could be understandable to an extent. He's also reportedly seeking a lot more money, though. Hyman is a good player, but not as good as Hall, and the Bruins might be able to keep Hall for less than Hyman will get on the open market, which reportedly could be $6 million a year.
There’s also Vladimir Tarasenko, who has requested a trade from the Blues and is believed to have the Bruins on his list of teams he would go to, but the latest report there is that the Bruins are not among the teams in on the right wing. Of course, as we’ve seen, that could change tomorrow.
Let’s take a step back. As we mentioned off the top, this is what happens with offseason rumors and reports. There’s a lot of noise. One person says one thing, another says something else. Things that seem like a near-certainty one day seem less certain the next, and vice versa. Sometimes those fluctuations reflect reality -- contract negotiations frequently hit speed bumps -- but sometimes they don’t.
The best course of action is to always have at least a little skepticism about everything until something is actually done. The encouraging reports from Thursday didn’t mean a Hall deal was completely done. What Friedman said Friday doesn’t mean things fell apart or the Bruins are moving on to Landeskog either.
Our best guess here is that there is still plenty of mutual interest between the Bruins and Hall. There is certainly still time to hammer out the final details of a new contract before free agency opens on July 28. If you were betting money on it, the safest bet would still be on Hall staying in Boston.
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