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It is Taylor Hall day and the question is will the Boston Bruins try to get a Hall 4
Taylor this summer seeing as he could be a cap casualty.
Let's talk about our today's episode of Lockdown Boston Bruins.
What is up Bruins fans and welcome back to the Lockdown Boston Bruins Podcast.
I'm your host Ian McLaren and this is a daily show where we discuss all things Spoked B.
I want to thank you so much for making Lockdown Bruins part of your day every day we are free
and available wherever you get podcasts and on YouTube part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,
your team every day and today is Wednesday May 24th.
This episode is brought to you by Game Time.
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Continuing our player reviews here on today's episode and we're looking at Taylor Hall.
If you missed it yesterday we talked about Charlie Coyle, gone through the top six, some
of the top defenseman and Leeness Olmark in recent days since of course the Boston Bruins
unfortunately ended their season way too early at the hands of the Florida Panthers who are
one win away from advancing to the Stanley Cup final as are the Vegas Golden Knights
guided by Bruce Cassidy.
A lot of conflicting feelings here this morning, hockey wise, but we focus on Taylor Hall,
what went well, what didn't go great and whether he will be a member of the Boston Bruins
next season.
Let's start with what went well for Taylor Hall this season.
Well, first of all he had pretty positive results after he settled on the third line
with Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederick.
The belief initially was that he would be back on the second line with David Poshnock,
David Craychee after having success with them upon being traded at the Bruins a couple
of years ago.
That was one of the big points of lament when Craychee left was that we won't see Hall and
Craychee get to recreate some of that chemistry that they saw together early on in Hall's
tenure with the Boston Bruins.
And of course Hall went on to resign despite the fact that Craychee had decided to go back
to check you for two seasons ago.
When the dust settled though, Taylor Hall found himself on the third line with Pavel
Zaka riding shotgun with Craychee and Poshnock.
Had a couple different line mates alongside Coyle, Craig Smith was there for a bit and
then Trent Frederick ended up settling there and he had one of his best seasons or his
best season goals wise for sure.
We're going to talk about Trent Frederick more on tomorrow's episode.
But it gave the Bruins really unparalleled depth.
I talked prior to the playoffs about how a projected third line of Charlie Coyle, Taylor
Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi, should have been one of the best around the NHL.
However, Taylor Hall down the stretch missed a bunch of games.
We'll talk about that in the next segment.
But when he did come back, he was fantastic for the Bruins in the postseason.
First points in a single postseason in his career.
Five goals, three assists in seven games which was better than any previous playoff run that
he has been on.
Now, he's never gone on an extended playoff run.
Hasn't been past the second round.
He made it to the second round with the Bruins in the bubble.
No, sorry, back in 2020, 21.
But of course, they fell there and he only had five points in 11 games that he had four
points in seven games in 2021, 22, and then eight points in seven games here against Florida
Panthers this season.
So tremendous finish to the year for Taylor Hall.
Unfortunately, things didn't start off super great for him because of the, sorry, things
didn't finish in the regular season very well because of that injury.
And we'll get into here what went wrong with Taylor Hall season here in a moment.
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Thank you so much once again for making locked on Boston Bruins part of your day every single
day.
Every dayers can expect a full recap on Trent Frederick's season on tomorrow's podcast.
Now you may have noticed that the what went well for Taylor Hall section of the podcast
today wasn't super long.
He did have a fantastic postseason.
Again five goals, three assists and seven games, eight points, his best playoff run of
his career.
However, he missed 21 games due to injury.
Well that did allow the Bruins to put them on LTIR and load up even more at the trade
at line by adding Tyler Bertuzzi.
The fact that he was stuck on the third line all season long really hindered his production.
Couple that with missing 21 games due to injury and you have some pretty low numbers for Taylor
Hall.
It was actually the lowest point per game mark of his career at 0.59.
He also had the lowest average ice time of his career and while he did have those eight
points in the playoffs, zero points in the final two games of the series which of course
were both losses and cost the Bruins the series.
He only had 12 minutes and 24 seconds of ice time in game six and to make matters worse
he had zero shots in both of those games as well.
I don't know if the injury that had been afflicting him came up and affected him late
in the series but zero points, zero shots in those two series decided games.
Now he did score in game five but again they still lost that game for three in overtime.
Of course you're going to have the lowest average ice time if you're playing on the
third line as opposed to being in the top six where you would think that he belongs.
But when everybody was healthy you had Brad Marsh on Patrice Bergeron, Jake Dubresk on
the top line and of course Pavel Zaka playing with David Creci and David Posternock.
Should Hall have gotten more of a chance in the top six possibly?
Should he have gotten more time on the power play?
I mean you could make an argument for that as well but added all up and it was a testament
to Boston's depth that Taylor Hall had that reduced rule.
Such a luxury to have a player like Taylor Hall on the third line.
He did produce but again the lowest point per game production of his career, 16 goals,
20 assists for 36 points in 61 games this season, 150 shots on goal as well.
Average of 15 minutes and 55 seconds of ice time per game.
All career lows.
He hadn't averaged that since coming over to Boston in 2020-21 where he was kind of finding
his groove you know prior to that well over 18-19 even 20 minutes a game he averaged but
that was a decade ago and that's something that's counting against him as well.
He's 31 years old.
He's going to turn 32 in November just wild to think that a Taylor Hall is that old even
watching the Dallas Stars play that the Tyler Sagan trade was a decade ago.
Wild.
So Taylor Hall added all up and it's tricky to gauge his season.
Yes his numbers were down but the Bruins were so fortunate to be able to have a team where
you could slot Taylor Hall on the third line.
Now the huge question is whether or not his salary cap hit and his age will play against
him and whether or not he is a candidate to be moved.
And we're going to talk about that here in segment number three.
Just as we definitely all predicted the eighth seed Miami Heat are one win away from the
NBA finals.
The heat have the urgency we have the focus they smell blood in the water they punch the
Celtics in the mouth and the Celtics folded.
The 2023 WMBAC season is officially underway.
Oliya Boston made her W.A. debut against Connecticut Sun on Friday.
And number one thing for me is that she's really good.
And four teams are left battling for two spots in the Stanley Cup finals.
The Florida Panthers in Vegas golden knights found ways to win in overtime in dramatic fashion.
For more on all these stories check out new episodes of Locked On Heat, Locked On Women's
Basketball and Locked On NHL all free and available wherever you get podcasts.
Alright Will Taylor Hall be a member of the Boston Bruins next season.
Again that is a massive question.
He's under contract for two more seasons at a salary cap hit of 6 million per.
And again he's turning 20 sorry I wish 23 32 in November.
In 2023 and 24 as well as 24 25 his contract has a 10 team no trade list so that opens
up 21 possibilities where he could be moved and certainly he is a candidate to be moved
because of Boston's cap situation.
Again I say it every day.
They have that bonus over a $4.5 million for next season meaning if the salary cap is say
83.5 million their ceiling is 79.
Now perhaps Taylor Hall will have an increased rule although Poshnock, Marshawn, Zaka and
Zabresk are all still under contract meaning he may not have a wing spot in the top 6.
Do you keep going with a guy making $6 million who could be on the third line again.
I don't know if you can do that.
That's a luxury and perhaps a misallocation of resources especially if you're looking
to fill two center spots.
They have a ton of free agents to sign or a ton of open spots at the very least with
Bergeron, Bertuzzi, Felino, Craycci, Hathaway, Nochik, all unrestricted free agents, Trent
Frederick, Jeremy Swamin, restrictive free agents at the moment they have $6 million in
projected cap space and that's without the bonus overage.
So somebody's going to have to move out here and it will likely be more than one player.
Taylor Hall is a prime candidate to be moved because of his age, because of his cap hit
and his value could be a bit higher at the moment because of how he performed in the
playoffs but you have to think he could be moved.
Brandon Carlo and Magrizlic could be moved.
Derek Forbord could be moved and of course there's increasing chatter about moving one
of, well likely, Linus Olmark because of the fact that Jeremy Swamin is doing a new contract
and you may not be able to again have the luxury of paying your gold tenders $9 million
between them.
But for right now the question about Taylor Hall, will he be moved?
It's a very, very real possibility and you know it's perhaps not the worst idea seeing
as they are lacking some trade capital.
No sorry, some draft capital, they have no first round pick, no second round pick for
the next couple of years not to say that they could recoup one of those but they could
get something for Taylor Hall and save against the cap.
Now could they trade Hall and then try to sign Tyler Bertuzzi, that could be a real possibility
as well seeing as Bertuzzi could come in a bit cheaper and he's younger.
But having said that it might just be a straight up situation where they just have to dump his
salary and try to find some solutions internally with some younger players perhaps you know
Jacob Lauco or Oscar Steen from the A.H.O.
So all that to say we love to tweet Taylor Hall is a Boston ruin, well that may not be
the case for much longer.
Now he did say if he's back he wasn't specific about being traded or not but he did say if
Craychey and Bergeron aren't in the mix then it's up to who's ever there to keep fostering
the environment and the tradition.
I know Taylor Hall loves being a Boston ruin I know well he does get along very well with
Charlie Coel I know he was very tight with Craig Smith before he was traded he committed
here for four seasons.
He wants to be part of the solution here in Boston but again the question is whether
or not Boston can afford $6 million for 32 year old or 30 yeah he'll be 32 once the season
gets underway 32 year old winger who may not have a place in the top six.
Now again I mentioned Zaka played the wing so perhaps you could have a situation where
it's March on say coiled the Brusk Hall Zaka posternac as your top six.
How does that sound to us now those would be right now the Bruins only have seven four
words signed for next season.
Poshnock, March on Hall, Coel, Zaka to Brusk and AJ Greer.
Of course they have some guys in the minors who are signed who could jump up John Beecher,
Georgie Merckulog, maybe Fabian Lysel, Oscar Steen but that's really the depth they have
up front right now and very limited cap space to work with.
So who goes Zaka to Brusk have pretty reasonable deals.
We talked about Coel yesterday probably too expensive for a third line center but could
provide good value if he can play in the top six uncertain whether that's the case.
So perhaps Taylor Hall goes otherwise maybe he's on the second line with Zaka and posternac
which could be a pretty good line.
All things considered but again you have to fit in some pieces in the bottom six you
need cap space in order to do so and a guy like Taylor Hall could be the odd man out
there.
So you know not the greatest outlook for Taylor Hall.
And we say Taylor Hall is a Boston Bruin.
Hold off on that for a bit because there's a real possibility he could get moved this
off season.
Anyways on that note I hope you are all doing well.
I hope you're taking care of yourselves, taking care of each other.
Thank you for continuing to tune in here to the lock Don Boston Bruin's podcast.
We are free and available on your favorite podcast app and tomorrow we'll be back with
a recap of Trent Frederick's season and perhaps what his next contract will look like with
the Boston Bruin.
It could be could he be a candidate to be moved if they can't come to an agreement.
Each hopefully they can get it done.
Alright friends that's it for today.
Take care of yourselves, take care of each other.
We'll be back here tomorrow on lock Don Boston Bruin's part of the lock Don podcast network
your favorite team every single day.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Just as we definitely all predicted the 8 seed Miami heat are one win away from the
NBA finals.
The 2023 WMBA season is officially underway.
And four teams are left battling for two spots in the Stanley Cup finals.
For more on all these stories check out new episodes of locked on heat locked on women's
basketball and locked on NHL all free and available wherever you get podcasts.
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