Hall has mediocre finishing skills and is a way bigger injury risk than any UFA available. Hall is exactly the type of player you avoid on a long term deal at his age. If Hall wanted to sign a 2 year deal I’d be all for it.
Probably the year he was voted most valuable player in the entire league. But even before that too, he was probably pretty good at playmaking when he was the scouts consensus as the best player of his draft year and maybe when he won 2 memorial cups too.
Hmmm ok. So winning a Hart trophy means you’re an elite playmaker? Don’t think he was drafted 1st overall for his playmaking skills.
Hall or Hyman could be our McWinger sure. I just don’t think it’d make sense to add 6M to McDavids 12.5M when he’s already producing at generational numbers without that kind of help. Secondary scoring is our biggest need. It’d make sense to have a line driver further down the line up, we know Hall can drive offence and we know he’s got familiarity with Nuge. I’m not married to the idea, but I’d like to see it tried. Teams would be in tough trying to stop 3 legit scoring lines, all 3 with Hart trophy winners driving the lines.
Winning the Hart trophy speaks to him as an elite dynamic offensive player overall. I think elite playmaking is in there too, you may disagree, so let’s say “very good” playmaking so we can move on from the semantics.
It’s not really semantics when you’re exaggerating a players abilities and using that as justification for potentially overpaying for the player.
Hall has always been know to be a good passer, if you don’t want to call it elite it’s fine and I could see it. But he is most definitely in the very good category of playmaking in this League.
Halls injury history is way more concerning than Hymans and that’s not even debatable. Hall has the most concerning injury history in this entire UFA class.
Hall at his best is an elite offensive player sure. The thing is he’s never been at that level consistently even through his prime 20’s years. With his injury history your betting on that not even just being maintained but getting better into his 30’s?
Part of me wonders what happens if we sign Hall and they toss him back with Nuge.
It does fix our “need to sign a 3C” issue and “need scoring from the bottom 6” issue though. McDavid and Draisaitl will just have to settle for trading Art Rosses between themselves like they have been lol. Those left wing spots would be perfect for using them to actually ADD value to this team. That would be the smart move cause this team serious needs some wins in the hidden gem or reclamation project dept. Maybe slot someone like Galchenyuk in one of the McDrai LW spots and watch his value rise. Or maybe use it to bump up Holloway who we have in the waiting.
Yeh but Chiasson level guys could do this to an acceptable degree. I don’t think you need to spend 6M for grinder type offense. Reserve the money for skill and the type of player that can drive offence instead of just being complentary to the offence. Let grinders come up through the system or on value contracts. That’s exactly what Toronto did, and now they’ll plug someone else in at that low cap and probably not miss a beat on their top line.
He’s being overrated around the League IMO. He looks a lot better than he is because of the situation he was in as a Leaf. It’s not the first time it’s happened and it won’t be the last. UFA signing period is filled with examples of players that are over valued come signing time, then can’t ever come close to living up the expectations of that contract. Van, Cgy, and Edm are always in a perpetual arms race as well, and sometimes to feel like your winning that arms race you may do something irrational like an overpay. I think right now those are the main players driving up Hymans massive contract.
