Dear Hextall: Say No To Taylor Hall

Taylor Hall is the shiny new toy that everyone wants for Christmas. Darren Dreger first reported earlier today on TSN 1050 the idea of Taylor Hall being a piece the Oilers might move:

“…These players will be embarrassed that Dallas Eakins had to go down because of their inability to respond. It’s not one player. It’s the collection of players that make up a sagging work ethic and lack of culture. But if you wanted to put a face on it, or a name to it, that’d be Taylor Hall. Taylor Hall, at least again from a culture standpoint – more in the room, not necessarily on the ice – hasn’t been what they hoped he would be.

And so when MacTavish looks into his crystal ball and tries to see what might come his way via trade, he’s got to be looking to the trade deadline. And then beyond that obviously looking at the draft floor. Because if you’re moving a piece like Taylor Hall, and I believe that Taylor Hall will be in play, then the rate of return is always best when teams have flexibility in the summer.”

Almost immediately fans from every NHL team pondered what their franchise would have to pony up to get a player of Hall’s caliber. Flyer fans have been pining for a 1st line LW for a few seasons now and think Taylor Hall is the answer. And in a sense, he is.

He’s a top-notch scoring threat that, when paired with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek, could do some offensive damage to opposing netminders. A proven goal scorer, Hall has over a point-per-game in each of his last two season with the Oilers. At the same time you have to look at what you’re giving up to acquire him.

Taylor Hall
(Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports)

For comparison, Tyler Seguin (coming off a .67 PPG season) was able to land top end 2nd liner (Eriksson), blue chip prospect (Morrow), and two B level prospects (Smith, Fraser) from the Dallas Stars. With Hall being better at this stage than Seguin was when he was traded, a team would need to bump up one of the B level prospects to a blue chip, and add a 1st at the very least. In other words, a king’s ransom.

The Flyers would likely offer something like:

  • One of Simmonds or Coburn +
  • One of Laughton or Couturier +
  • Two of Morin/Sanheim/1st in 2015

If you’re a Flyers fan you have to step back and ask yourself if it’s in the best interest to make a trade like this. Trading for Taylor Hall helps in the short-term, but doesn’t come close to fixing the most glaring problem the Flyers have – their defense. The blue-chip defensive prospects (Morin, Sanheim, Hagg, Gostisbehere) the Flyers have meticulously drafted over the past few seasons either need to be developed further and eased into the NHL or used as trade bait to fix the current state of the defense – which is mediocre, at best.

The addition of Taylor Hall allows for the 1st line’s scoring potential to skyrocket, but that doesn’t make the Philadelphia Flyers a playoff team. Let cooler heads prevail, Flyers fans. If you have a brown paper bag, pick it up and breathe slowly in and out.

Taylor Hall would cost too much and set this Flyers team back even further than where they are already.

10 thoughts on “Dear Hextall: Say No To Taylor Hall”

  1. Hall will fit right in as long as we don’t move Morin for him.. I’ll gladly give up Coburn for Hall all day long. Get it done Hexy

  2. I hope Hexy dont even pickup his phone. The Flyers D will be really good in a few years. I dont need another gut the farm system for a player that plays when they feel like it.

  3. I would easily give up coburn, laughton, morin and a 1st for him. I believe coburn may be on his back end, laughton looks great but is also completely up in the air with how hell pan out, and morin and a first isnt really that bad unless we fail this year and get a really high pick. If our pick falls below 10-12 I’d probably make this trade.

    • I also don’t mind giving up Coburn, Laughton, and a 1st. However, no D-prospects. Instead offer one of Akeson/B Schenn/L Schenn/Lecavilier.

      The Oilers keep saying they need some leaders so maybe Vinny could lead them. Hell he’d get the playing time he wants and the Flyers would get an almost guaranteed offensive weapon as well as clear a little cap space (although it might just break even too). In 3-4 years time those D-prospects will join a very potent offense and hopefully Cooter will pan out to pick up ~60 points a season with Simmonds. Combine that with a fairly steady Mason and an awesome top line (Claude, Jakub, Hall)…that’s serious shit!

  4. lmao.. yeahhhhhhhhhhh the Flyers wouldn’t TRADE HALF THAT! The biggest joke of all is even MENTIONING Sam Morin’s name… smh.. that’s beyond comical. Several head scouts of NHL teams have already called Sam Morin the following: “the next cornerstone, star defenseman in the NHL” … “the closest thing to Chris Pronger since Chris Pronger”.. The Flyers wouldn’t give Morin straight-up! Sure, they’d have to move value for value, so talking players like a young Couts, 1st rd picks, and top tier D prospects like Sanheim for sure… but not even CLOSE to trading the only two “untouchables” in the Flyers organization: Morin and Ghost. Please learn about the sport of hockey next time first… thanks.

    • “The Flyers wouldn’t give Morin straight-up!”
      You are either completely obtuse or insane. Hall is an established and very good NHL player and Morin is a prospect. And not even that great of a prospect. You do understand Morin is just as likely to go bust as he is to reach his potential right?

Comments are closed.