I really don’t get the Sam Girard love fest, he’s a decent player but he doesn’t produce, has below average underlying number and isn’t an overly great defender.
I understand that this forum is obsessed with “YOuNg” but the idea of not willing to deal a player like that for an in theory extended elite winger is just laughable.
If the Canucks were the same position I would easily trade a Girard level player for Hall.
He is amazing at moving the puck, really good defensively considering his size disadvantages and a legit top4 D already at the age of 21.
Will he ever be a #1 D? No. Very likely he will be a #2/3 kind of guy at his best. And that is great. I wouldn't trade that for Hall who IMO you are overrating by quite a bit. He does not look as fast post knee-injury, and along with our own Landeskog is one of the prime guys that you shouldn't want to give big money to given his injury history and playing style. Also his Hart season was more of an outlier than an appropriate depiction of what Hall is as a player.
Having both Hall and Landeskog locked up for almost 20M two years from now is a disaster waiting to happen IMO. I am not going to give up a young guy locked up for more than 7 years who will be a mainstay on our blueline during our best window at a cup for that.
Do you know how hard it is to get your hands on quality young Ds in this league? There is a reason why we had to "settle" for Girard who at that point had played 5 NHL games as an undersized 2nd round pick for Duchene with 2 years left on his deal. Because he was the best young D we could get. Young quality Ds in this league are unbelievably valuable. Avs shoring up their top4 for the next decade is way more important than adding Hall.