5 NHL teams that will regret not trading for Taylor Hall

1. Colorado Avalanche

Outside of the Coyotes, the Colorado Avalanche were the other big favorite to land Hall before the NHL’s holiday roster freeze. The Avalanche had been rumored as the destination for Hall for a few weeks now, making them the team likely most disappointed by their inability to work something out with the Devils.

This season, the Avalanche have a 21-9-3 record and are second place in the Central Division behind the Blues with 45 points on the year. Colorado has gone 8-1-1 in their last 10 games this season and are currently in second place in the NHL with a plus-28 goal differential this season.

While the Avalanche won’t have to deal with Hall in their division, it’s clear the team would have loved to land him. Colorado has over $10 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly, and would have had room to spare had they acquired Hall from New Jersey.

Though the Avalanche’s forward group has gotten healthier over the last few weeks, Colorado could have added a former Hart Trophy winner to their already stacked offensive roster. The Avalanche have the second most goals scored this season with 119 already through 33 games and while Hall has not been on a career pace this season, he’d no doubt thrive with Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog as offensive teammates.

Offensively, the Avalanche will be more than fine without Hall in the lineup. Colorado got to this point without him so far this season and already looks like a solid playoff contender this season. However, the Avalanche could have assembled an incredibly deep offensive lineup had they been able to nab Hall, a move they may end up regretting if they’re ousted early in the Stanley Cup playoffs.