Brian Burke was a guest on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer on Thursday and when asked for his take on the Taylor Hall signing in Buffalo, Burke said in response, “I scratched my head at first.” His reaction, like many when they heard the news that Hall had signed with the Sabres when he could have signed with a playoff contending team for one year shocked many.
Burke said he went on the radio afterwards and said, “I don’t get this one bit.” He then explained that Hall’s agent Darren Ferris actually called him after he made the comments and said, “What didn’t you get?” Burke responded “None of this.”
A couple of days later, it was examined more closely and insiders had determined that Hall liked the idea of playing with Jack Eichel and he had a massive amount of respect for head coach Ralph Krueger. Clearly, after Ferri’s explanation to Burke, those aren’t the only reasons Hall chose Buffalo.
Burke goes on to say that he asked why Hall would sign in Buffalo if he wanted to play with a contender. The agent responded, “No, that market never materialized for the kind of money and term that we thought.”
It was later reported by TSN’s Frank Seravalli that Hall got offers from Boston, Colorado and Edmonton, all of which were $5 million or under. In other words, Hall and his agent figured Stanley Cup contenders would come calling with bigger-money deals for one season which would allow him a chance to get paid and win a Cup. It didn’t happen.
Hall Had Two Options
That left Hall with the option to go with a team that could help him up his numbers and do this all over again next offseason, or take way less money to try and win. Some have argued that this would have been the year to take less money since the players will be giving back a huge portion of their salaries in a condensed season and in escrow, but $3 million is still a lot of money.
Because the money did matter (at least to some degree), Hall chose the team that would give him the best center of the bunch.
Considering how low the offers were from contending teams, it’s hard to argue this was a poor decision by the left-winger.
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