Should the Anaheim Ducks get in on the Taylor Hall Sweepstakes?

Are Hall’s Offensive Abilities Enough To Make Bob Murray Look His Way?

Let’s not beat around the bush here. When Taylor Hall is on his game, there are few better in the league. Only two seasons removed from a 39-goal, 93-point, Hart Trophy campaign, Hall has backed it up with a better than a point per game injury-shortened season and one 52-point in a 65-game season split between the New Jersey Devils and the Arizona Coyotes.

Over his 10 year NHL career, Hall has scored at a 0.90 point per game pace, which is a wonderful rate that is comparable to any player in the league. Notably, his scoring rate in the postseason remains at a similar tempo. Though it should be noted that Hall’s postseason record is a very small sample size to date.

Introducing this type of offensive weapon to the Anaheim Ducks list would rejuvenate the scoring, by allowing all the players to shift down a line and ultimately play against weaker competition. Imagine if you will, that Rakell would no longer be tightly checked by the opposition’s best players.

Perhaps under those conditions, he regains some of his scoring touch. Maxime Comtois or Brayden Tracey are then able to come into the team on a third line with far less responsibility placed upon them. For a team that should be looking into the future, finding ways to protect those young players and allow them to flourish should be a strong consideration.

Of course, finding someone of Hall’s ilk could also open up trade talks regarding Rakell himself. It’s hard to imagine a contending team couldn’t find the cap space to include a ~40 point scorer, with 30 goal upside, for the low price of $3.8 million. It would be a tantalizing prospect for a team such as the Edmonton Oilers, who have such big contracts on the books yet yearn to find help for their superstars.

Others would also line up, allowing the Anaheim Ducks to somewhat write their ticket. Could he be part of a package to acquire both of the New Jersey Devil’s mid-1st-round draft picks? 27-year-old scoring forwards on cheap contracts aren’t offered up every day and one can only imagine that there would be some demand for the player’s services.

The jury is out of course, on how he would fit into Ducks Head Coach, Dallas Eakins‘, offensive system. However, Hall did have one incredibly productive season under Eakins in Edmonton. A season in which he scored 80-points in 75-games. Thus it seems that Eakins would be able to find a way to include Hall enough to have him produce.

There’s no team in the league who can’t use a productive Taylor Hall, and the Ducks are certainly no exception.