5 NHL teams that will regret not trading for Taylor Hall

By Mary Clarke | Dec 17, 2019

NEWARK, NJ- October 04: Taylor Hall #9 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates Blake Coleman's (not pictured) second period goal during the game against the Winnipeg Jets on October 4, 2019 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Tim Spyers/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

2. St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues were one of the major frontrunners for Hall this season, but they too ultimately fell short of the mark at the end of the day. The reigning Stanley Cup champions have a major missing piece this year due to the injury of Vladimir Tarasenko that will take him out of the lineup for most of the regular season. Adding Hall to the Blues’ roster would have filled that hole and make an already lethal Blues’ offensive attack even deadlier.

The Blues are the Central Division’s top team this season, with a 21-8-6 record and 48 points on the year as we near the halfway mark. Though a playoff berth is not assured just yet for St. Louis, the Blues are putting themselves in a fantastic spot to compete for a second straight Stanley Cup.

As for how Hall would have fit in the Blues’ plans, St. Louis had the cap room. This season, the Blues have $4.9 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly, and would have been able to take on Hall’s $3 million cap hit if the Devils had retained 50 percent of his original cap hit like they did in their deal with the Coyotes.

St. Louis isn’t necessarily in dire need of offense, as the team is in the top half of the league in goals-for on the season. Still, adding Hall to the team’s roster then getting Tarasenko back as the playoffs roll around would have been a deadly combination that would have likely made the Blues favorites to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

After all is said and done, however, St. Louis seemingly was not as big of a contender for Hall as we were lead to believe.

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