Mile High Sticking
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Colorado Avalanche Shouldn’t Trade for Taylor Hall

By Nadia Archuleta

NEWARK, NJ - FEBRUARY 14: New Jersey Devils left wing Taylor Hall (9) during the second period of the National Hockey League game between the New Jersey Devils and the Colorado Avalanche on February 14, 2017 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - FEBRUARY 14: New Jersey Devils left wing Taylor Hall (9) during the second period of the National Hockey League game between the New Jersey Devils and the Colorado Avalanche on February 14, 2017 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Avalanche Would Have Difficulty Paying Hall and Keeping Other Assets

The Avalanche have avoided cap hell. They would be in cap hell if they tried to sign Hall at the end of this season.

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Right now, the team has just over $5 million in cap space. That’s not going to be enough for Hall, who’s currently making $6 million.

Now, granted, the team has money coming off the books next season — Tyson Barrie’s and Brooks Orpik‘s retained salaries. They’ll also have some UFAs they might not re-sign, such as Colin Wilson, Mark Barberio, and Matt Nieto. Maybe they’ll even let some of their RFAs walk.

However, Girard is going to get a $4 million pay raise next year, which will impact the cap. Burakovsky is earning the right to real money next season. Nikita Zadorov is one of the pending RFAs.

What’s more, the team has to replace exiting players. So, even if they let UFAs and RFAs walk, they have to replace them with some bodies.

Let’s say they manage to fill the team with a few cheap journeymen so they don’t go over the cap with a Hall signing. What about the following season? (Because I don’t envision signing Hall just for one extra season.) None other than our captain, Gabriel Landeskog, and prize rookie, Cale Makar, will be looking for new contracts.

Landeskog might not get a huge bump in pay from $5,571,429, but Makar will be seeing a lot more money from his ELC $880,833.

So, in addition to the assets the team would have to give up just to acquire Hall, they’d likely have to give up more in the next couple years to keep him.

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