NHL rumors: Devils to meet with Taylor Hall’s agent

The New Jersey Devils should have a lot more clarity regarding Taylor Hall shortly. According to the latest NHL rumors, they have a meeting scheduled with his agent in Calgary.

The New Jersey Devils came into this season with a lot of uncertainty. Most of it revolves around star forward Taylor Hall, who will be an unrestricted free agent in July. The two sides were unable to work out an extension in the summer and time is ticking to sign one. According to the latest NHL rumors, the Devils are scheduled to meet with Hall’s agent in Calgary.

This report comes from Elliotte Friedman in Sportnet‘s latest Headlines segment. Friedman said the team will meet with Hall’s agent, Darren Ferris, in Calgary while they are on their Western Canada road trip.

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They play the Flames on Thursday, Nov. 7 and have a day off on Wednesday, so the meeting will likely happen on one of those two days. On Friday, they have a game against the Edmonton Oilers.

The meeting should give the Devils a bit of clarity regarding their star’s willingness to sign an extension to stay in New Jersey. It is critical they figure out if he’ll sign or not because if he won’t sign, they have to start shopping him around the league because they’d like to get something for him instead of losing him for nothing.

So far this season, Hall has two goals and 10 assists for 12 points in 12 games, including seven points in his last five games. He won the Hart Trophy in 2017-18 after helping the Devils make a surprise appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

General Manager Ray Shero can’t afford to mess this up. If they can’t extend him, they’ve got to trade him because it would net the team a lot of assets. A first-round pick would be the starting point of negotiations. The Devils would probably get at least one very good prospect as well. If Shero plays his cards right, he should have a lot of teams interested in him, which will drive up his asking price.

There’s no reason for Shero to rush yet, but he’s got to come out of the meeting with Hall’s agent knowing if he will sign a long-term extension or not. It will likely cost at least $11 million to sign him to a long-term extension because not only is he a recent Hart Trophy winner, he’s also still quite young, though he turns 28 on Nov. 14.

Should Hall be put on the trading block, the Devils would have a ton of leverage. He’d be the best player on the trading block by a significant margin. Hall proved in 2017-18 that he can lead a team to the postseason. It’s rare to see a talent like Hall be available on the trade market and he’d be the only huge difference-maker available.