Hall calls pause 'a variable' as possible free agent with Coyotes

Taylor Hall said he's happy to have hockey games to think about before he determines his NHL future as a possible free agent.

The 28-year old forward could have become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, but the pause in the NHL season due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus changed the usual timing of play and the offseason.

"It's a variable for sure, but I think you look around the world and there's people that are in much tougher spots than I am," Hall told Sportsnet in remarks published Saturday. "And it's completely out of my hands, so, whether I'm going to become a free agent or not, I think it's nice that there's hockey left to be played, and I can really just focus on that and then see what happens from there."

The NHL announced its 24-team Return to Play Plan on May 26, and it included the Coyotes, who were four points out of a Stanley Cup Playoff position when the season was paused March 12.

Arizona (33-29-8), with a .529 points percentage, would play the Nashville Predators (35-26-8, .565) in a best-of-5 Qualifying Round series, with the winner advancing to the playoffs in the Western Conference. Dates and sites for those games have not been announced.

"I think everyone's timeline's been thrown off," Hall said. "I just consider myself lucky that I play on one of the 24 teams that's going to have a chance to play for the Stanley Cup ... and we'll see what happens from there."

Hall played 35 games for Arizona after he was traded by the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 16. The seven-year contract with an average annual value of $6 million he signed with the Edmonton Oilers was set to expire June 30. Training camp to precede the restart will not begin before July 10.

"It's been an interesting year," Hall said from Toronto in an episode of "Hockey Central at Home." "I spent three months in New Jersey, I spent around three months in Arizona, and I've been in quarantine for almost three months. So it's been an interesting year.

"But certainly whenever anyone asks me about Arizona, I say the living was awesome, it's a great place to play as a person. The arena is a little bit far (in Glendale), that's maybe the only complaint that players would have, but we get treated well by the organization. I think everyone loves playing for our coaching staff and [it] really was a great experience. I wish we would have won more games, but overall it was awesome."

Hall scored 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists) with Arizona, eventually landing on a line with wing Conor Garland.

"We started playing together 6-7 games into my stint in Arizona and I found that he is a great player to play with," Hall said of the 24-year-old. "He plays with a lot of heart and a lot of passion and has a lot of skill. So, as a left winger, to have a guy on your right side like that was a lot of fun to play with."

Hall was voted the Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP after he helped the Devils reach the playoffs in 2017-18, his only postseason in 10 NHL seasons and New Jersey's first berth since 2011-12.

The No. 1 pick in the 2010 NHL Draft by Edmonton, he scored 52 points (16 goals, 36 assists) in 65 games this season with New Jersey and Arizona, and has 563 points (218 goals, 345 assists) in 627 games with the Oilers, Devils and Coyotes.

Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said earlier this month he felt Arizona had a good chance to keep Hall.

"I'm not saying he is going to sign here, but I definitely think we're a team he's very interested in staying with," Tocchet told the ESPN On Ice podcast.

"... You're talking about a guy who, before this, was going to make a ton of money. With this whole pandemic, like he told me, he doesn't want to go through another year trying to play on a one-year contract. He wants to get settled somewhere. So he's got a lot of different options that he's [got to] weigh."