BHN Daily: Did Boston Bruins Taylor Hall Shoot Down Vegas Trade?

While Taylor Hall has been a bit vague about the circumstances involving his no-trade clause and his arrival with the Boston Bruins, it sounds as time has worn on that the left winger flexed his muscles a bit more than originally thought to get to Boston.

According to Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman, Hall vetoed a trade to the Vegas Golden Knights ahead of the NHL trade deadline before okaying the move to the Boston Bruins along with Curtis Lazar in exchange for Anders Bjork and a 2021 second round pick.

“I’m just amazed at some of the problems that Vegas has scoring with all of the talent in their lineup,” said Elliotte Friedman, during his 31 Thoughts podcast with Jeff Marek. “Don’t forget, they went hard after [Taylor] Hall. He vetoed a trade there.”

Hall reportedly shooting down a different trade makes sense from all accounts and may have been part of the circumstances that lowered the trade asking price for the Bruins to very reasonable levels before he came to Boston.

It’s all water under the bridge now, obviously, and speaks to just how badly the 29-year-old wanted to become a member of the Boston Bruins. That’s been obvious with everything Hall has said and done since then and has three goals and four points in six playoff games with the Black and Gold where he’s scored some pretty important goals.
It’s a happy ending for the Boston Bruins and Hall, but all of the little details leading up to it a few months ago are pretty fascinating.
Now on to the BHN Puck Links:

*Right wing Craig Smith (lower body) will be out of the Boston Bruins lineup for Game 2 against the New York Islanders. (Boston Hockey Now)

*Ryan Reaves will be having a hearing with NHL Player Safety after this takedown during a nasty playoff series with the Colorado Avalanche. Does this seem particularly nasty to me? Not really.

Ryan Reaves given a five-minute match penalty for attempt to injure.https://t.co/YQ2PkWUPVG

— David Schoen 🗞🏒 (@DavidSchoenLVRJ) May 31, 2021

*Adrian Dater has more on the incident and Pete DeBoer’s defense of his player in a play where “nobody was hurt.” (Colorado Hockey Now)

*When you manage to make it competitive with the Tampa Bay Lightning, they still have Andrei Vasilevskiy as the last line of Tampa defense as Carolina found out in Game 1. Yeah, the Lightning are pretty good. (The Athletic)

*A great story about the Philadelphia Flyers involvement with a military group playing hockey to overcome their disabilities. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

*All eyes are on Montreal goaltender Carey Price as the Habs prepare for a winner-take-call Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs (TSN)

*Can you believe the hockey nerds that had the audacity to write this article trumpeting the Maple Leafs top line as the best in the playoffs as they’re about to choke away another first round series? Wow, those analytics must be really relevant.

Wow, really meaningful analytics with the Maple Leafs line ranked as the tops. Score one for the hockey nerds 🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/Ec3QihdpIc

— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) May 30, 2021

*For something completely different: Nobody should have a bottle thrown at them, obviously, but Kyrie Irving is one of the least sympathetic athletes that’s ever come through Boston. (WEEI)