NHL Rumors: Taylor Hall wants stability, teams asking about Nick Foligno, and Jack Eichel off the board
Anthony Scultore
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The NHL Rumors mill has been very active in Buffalo where we have some new updates. Meanwhile, the Columbus Blue Jackets have an interesting trade piece in Nick Foligno they don’t want to move but might.
NHL Rumors: Taylor Hall looking for stability
Honestly, you have to start feeling for Taylor Hall. He’s had to play on a struggling Oilers team that jettisoned him right when they started to turn it around. He won the Hart Trophy playing with the Devils only to see them rebuild and send him to Arizona of all places. Hall then left the desert for the greener pastures of Buffalo?
Listen, at the start of the season the Sabres on paper looked like they would be a fun and exciting team. You just don’t play games on paper. Regardless, Hall is even open to re-signing with the Sabres but really just wants stability.
Taylor Hall has acknowledged that he is still open to his options; one of them, of course, is staying in Buffalo and signing an extension with the Sabres. The other is negotiating a trade. What we know is that Darren Ferris, who represents Hall, and Sabres GM Kevyn Adams are expected to have discussions almost on these options in the near future. Either way, Hall just wants some stability moving forward. So that either comes with the extension with the Sabres or by navigating a trade to a team that is interested in extending Hall in the future.
Darren Dreger, TSN
If Dreger is right, then a trade to a contender and a re-sign with Buffalo in the offseason seems unlikely. Hall is going to want to go a team that intends to keep him around for more than a playoff run. He has a full no trade clause and will dictate where he lands.
NHL Rumors: Teams asking about Nick Foligno
The Blue Jackets do not want to trade their captain. However, if they are out of the playoffs when April 12 rolls around they may not have a choice. On TSN’s Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun provided these insights.
There have been teams, I’m told, that have kicked the tires on Nick Foligno, who would be a real prime target as a pending UFA and is a physical player and the leader of the Blue Jackets. He’s just the kind of guy you would want to add to your top six come playoff time. But for now the message, I’m told, is the Blue Jackets want to make a run here. They want to try and get on a run over the course of the next couple of weeks. They have four games coming up with the Carolina Hurricanes, which could be pretty pivotal on this end. Foligno has a 10-team no trade list, so he’s part of this discussion but Columbus hopes it’s not a discussion about him staying on board and they make the playoffs. The New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs are teams to watch in regards to Foligno.
TSN Insider Trading
The rumors on Foligno started a few weeks back in the Toronto Sun and have only picked up from there. While the Leafs may want him, Foligno would be the perfect replacement for Anders Lee on the Island.
NHL Rumors: Jack Eichel off the board
The likelihood of Jack Eichel being traded at the deadline before his injury was very low. According to a recent feature in The Athletic it is now next to zero. That’s because of the state of disarray the franchise is in after firing Ralph Krueger this week and trying to figure out what to do with several other players at the deadline.
And the odds of moving an injured Jack Eichel, at the trade deadline before you plot the next course, have shrunk to virtually zero. Doesn’t mean it can’t happen, but not a single NHL GM contacted this week thinks a deal of that magnitude can, or even should, be on the table with the organization in disarray. So he’s gone off our board.
The Athletic
I’ve been covering a potential Jack Eichel trade since last season. A deal of this magnitude is better suited for the offseason, especially at or around the draft. The lottery will have taken place and everyone will firmly know where they are picking. That provides the stability a lot of GMs are looking for when making trades – especially for a superstar.
Kevyn Adams may also like to hire a new head coach before trading Eichel. Maybe a top new bench boss like Claude Julien would make Jack more amicable to staying for another season. The bottom line is that Adams needs help, and he is interviewing for an assistant GM. One of the qualifications – probably having made a blockbuster trade involving a superstar.