Blackhawks Forward Available and Could Be an Interesting Trade Target for the Maple Leafs

When Taylor Hall inked a deal in Chicago, he did so with the hope of being able to potentially contend for a Stanley Cup at the tail end of his contract as the Hawks continued to rebuild.

Now, with the Hawks well outside of the playoff picture, and Hall approaching free agency, it appears more likely than not that he's traded before the deadline.

The Maple Leafs are in their contention window now, and appear to have improved their roster enough to be a legitimate threat to go on a postseason run after improving their blueline with the additions of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Chris Tanev, and pivoting from Ilya Samsonov to Anthony Stolarz in the crease.

The Leafs will almost certainly be buyers at the deadline, and with the Blackhawks in sell mode, there is the potential for the two Original Six clubs to make a swap, and Taylor Hall, the former 1st overall pick in 2010, could be a player of interest to the Leafs.

According to The Fourth Period, Hall, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st is available and the Blackhawks may be willing to eat 50% of his $6M cap hit to make him a more enticing target for teams looking to bolster their roster for the playoffs.

Hall, 33, could be an excellent depth piece for a Maple Leafs team who is desperately looking to improve in the secondary scoring department. While he only has 5 goals and 5 assists for a total of 10 points across 23 games, he is a former 7-time 20-goal scorer. He also posted a career-high 39 goals in 2017-18 with the New Jersey Devils.

The real allure about potentially adding Hall at the deadline is that the acquisition cost should not be overly high, given some of his previous health concerns. Still, even with the risk associated with acquiring an oft-injured scorer, if the Leafs can get the Hawks to retain 50% on Hall and then invite another team in to help broker the deal and retain an additional $1.5M, the Leafs could end up with a valuable depth piece at the low price of just $1.5M against the cap.

As far as where Hall might be able to slot in, he could fit in nicely with the bottom six to start, with the skill to ascend into the top six in the event of injury. He certainly has the skill level and experience to augment a player like John Tavares or Auston Matthews very well in a pinch.

The Fourth Period has not linked Hall to the Maple Leafs at this point, but with Brad Treliving being such an active general manager, if Hall does indeed find himself on the trading block, the Leafs would be wise to at least check in.