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Avalanche Free Agency

The Taylor Hall-to-Avs rumors are baaaaaack

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Taylor Hall

So, last night on Twitter, I saw this tweet come across my transom:

Just another rumor tossed out there by some random person in Twitter-land, I thought, and soon turned out the lights and went to bed.

But then I checked out his bio a bit closer, and he is a writer for a pretty well-respected sports site in Canada, The Score. This morning, I decided to do something I rarely do, which is reach out to another media person about a story they wrote and ask if, well, they still stand by it.

Mr. Moretto is, indeed, standing by it. He says he has a very good source on this, a source one might not suspect. I, of course, did not ask for the name of his source, as that would be very bad form – and it would be even worse form if Moretto actually told him/her to me.

So, here we are then. I guess we’ll see what happens with this. Hey, if Mr. Moretto is right, I’ll be the first to doff my hat to him. We have heard Joe Sakic say already that the Avs won’t be players on any wildly expensive players in free agency, which opens at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

But Moretto’s tweet says it would be a short-term deal. And, who knows, maybe Hall just wants to take a one-year deal at short money and try to win a Stanley Cup with the Avs, a la Paul Kariya/Teemu Selanne circa 2003-04? The current market for any kind of long-term, huge-money deal might be very bad for a guy like Hall. Maybe he wants to come to a team like the Avs, have a great season and then go back into the UFA market with a lot better leverage than a guy coming off a pretty mediocre season with New Jersey and Arizona?

TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger went on the radio apparently today and said his top-three potential destinations for Taylor Hall are Nashville, Columbus and Montreal. Nothing about the Avs.

Personally, I’ve gotten radio silence from the hockey sources I’ve asked about Hall. So, I want to make it clear: I’m not “endorsing” Mr. Moretto’s report. I just thought it makes for an interesting story in a way.

I know what it’s like to put my neck on the line with a “scoop” prediction like Mr. Moretto did. I’ll tell you one thing: it’s very stressful waiting to see whether it comes to fruition or not. I once had to sweat out a story I wrote saying an entire franchise would move to Denver, as a part-time writer for a big newspaper. You talk about a sleepless night of stress…

I suspect Mr. Moretto is feeling that stress right now as well, as he works for a credible outlet. He’s either going to be right or he’s going to be wrong.

Maybe we’ll find out tomorrow on that. Saddle up, folks.

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