Morning Skate: Hall pass

Monday! Are you tapped out after that free agent frenzy weekend?

The Bruins did improve their team with the signing of Craig Smith, but fans are undoubtedly disappointed that the team was unable to sign Taylor Hall.

Hall signed a reported one-year, $8 million deal with...the Buffalo Sabres?

The Buffalo Sabres????

For a guy who said that winning was his main focus, he sure chose an interesting franchise.

Hall likely knows that he isn’t winning anything with the Buffalo Sabres next season, which means you can look at this deal one of two ways:

• He thinks Buffalo, led by Jack Eichel, might improve by leaps and bounds in the coming years, and wants to test the waters without making a long-term commitment.
• He knows he’ll put up big numbers playing with Eichel, and will likely have a good personal season. He’ll use that big season to hit the market next summer, ideally in better economic/societal circumstances, and get himself a better deal.

Who knows? In all honesty, it’s not a surprise that the Bruins didn’t end up with Hall. It is, however, a surprise that he signed with Buffalo.

Weird times.

Today’s highlight

Sadly, Eddie Van Halen passed away last week. This song rules.

Today’s discussion topic

Alright, the Bruins improved 5v5 scoring in the middle six with the Craig Smith signing. What do they need to improve next?