Taylor Hall, Sabres have mutual interest in contract extension

As a result, his market was much softer than expected. Two years ago, it looked as if he could be like Artemi Panarin and land a multi-year deal worth more than $10M per year but he couldn’t come close to that. As a result, he pivoted towards the one-year pact that landed him with Buffalo in the hopes that the opportunity to play alongside Jack Eichel would allow him to improve his offensive output and give him a better shot at a stronger market this summer. Unfortunately for both Hall and the Sabres, that hasn’t happened as the 29-year-old has just one goal through 12 games heading into play on Thursday though he ranks second to Eichel in assists with eight.

That type of offensive performance doesn’t lend itself towards matching let alone beating his $8M price tag which makes it interesting that he’d be open to an extension at this time given that his marketability isn’t as strong as he was hoping it’d be let alone the fact that the Sabres have struggled considerably this season. Him showing a willingness to sign would seemingly work in Buffalo’s favor at this point although they’d still likely need to come close to his current AAV to justify Hall foregoing another shot at the open market.

While there is mutual interest in getting something done, it will take a while before they’ll be allowed to do so. Since Hall signed a one-year contract, there is a restriction on how quickly he can sign an extension. Normally, that deadline is January 1st which is nearly three months into a typical regular season but that’s with free agency coming in the summer. Since the UFA market came in mid-October, this year’s allowable extension date is March 12th, just two months into the year. That comes one month before the trade deadline so if they can’t get a deal in place around that time, Buffalo will only have a few weeks to decide whether to keep Hall or trade him. It’s a narrow window to work with but with a shortened schedule, decisions are being made a bit quicker this season and this case will be no exception.