Why didn’t the Calgary Flames trade for Taylor Hall?

The Calgary Flames reportedly expressed interest in trading for Taylor Hall, but didn’t pull the trigger.

Taylor Hall was born in Calgary, Alberta back in November of 1991. Hall grew up in Calgary until 2005, and he grew up as a Calgary Flames fan. When he was drafted first overall by the Edmonton Oilers back in 2010, though, Hall admitted he wouldn’t be able to cheer for his childhood favorite team any longer.

What followed in Edmonton for Hall was six seasons of great personal success, but unfortunately, not a whole lot of team success. The Oilers never made it to the postseason during Hall’s time in Oil Country.

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During Hall’s time with the Oilers, he racked up 328 points in 381 games played. He was a shining star on a team where fans hadn’t had much to cheer for in years previous.

But much like the Wayne Gretzky trade back in August of 1988, when the Oilers traded Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson on June 29th, 2016, it caught many fans around the league off guard.

Hall’s departure for such a small return may have been frustrating for Oiler fans at the time, but the Oilers made it back into the playoffs in the 2016-17 season for the first time since 2006 and went on quite a solid run. That run began to pose the question, “was Hall really ever the right fit in Edmonton?”

Hall was dealt to the Arizona Coyotes on December 16th, 2019 in exchange for a 2020 conditional first-round draft pick, a conditional 2021 third-rounder, along with forward prospects Nate Schnarr, Nick Merkley, and defenceman Kevin Bahl.

The Coyotes may have been the ones to finalize a deal with the Devils, but many other NHL teams were showing interest in the highly skilled forward. One of those teams was Hall’s childhood favorite, the Flames.

The Flames certainly had a rocky start to their season, and many fans were wondering if Hall could be coming home to Calgary since his contract was up at the end of the season. Offense was pretty scarce for the Flames in November, so the acquiring of Hall could have been huge for the Flames. There were several issues with him that the Flames likely saw as a red flag.

First of all, Hall makes $6 million a year, and his contract expires at the end of the season. The Flames are already on a very tight budget, as they have just $19,117 in projected cap space. They would have likely had to get rid of a young defenseman, a forward, and several draft picks. This would ultimately be too big of an ask for general manager Brad Treliving, considering the trade would have likely meant a short term stay for Hall in his hometown anyways.

Back in 2018, former Edmonton Oiler and ex NHL-er, Georges Laraque went on a Montreal radio station and he blasted Hall.

“Hall had problems off the ice, and went to rehab during the summer of his trade (2016)… When he [Hall] got to rehab, word got out across the NHL that the Oilers were looking to move him because of it… When everyone in the league knows the player’s dirt, it’s normal that the player’s value is going to drop,” he elaborated. Not completely done with sharing insider information, Laraque finished things off with, “He absolutely had to leave Edmonton, no question.”

This story certainly may explain why the Oilers acted fast and didn’t shop around as long as fans may have hoped, and also why the Flames and other teams didn’t want Hall in their dressing room.