[bubbsy]

I think the flames "window" with this core is at its peak right now, and perhaps next season. After that, with Gaudreau, Monahan & Giordano heading into their last years of their current contracts. So if they believe that this core is close to being a real contender, they might as well go "chips in" at this point.

Now, the question to ask is if Hall is the piece they should be looking to add to take this team over the top. Ideally, we would be getting a C, or perhaps a RW, which Hall is not. That being said, for a team looking to add another game breaker at forward, I would argue that Hall may be the best pure offence generating forward that's possibly available, now, and perhaps within the next year.

Based on this, I would be happy to pay "rental" prices for Hall (a package that could include some combination/permutation of our 1st or 2nd round picks, prospects, depth forwards, kylington). I would be just fine in seeing how it goes before deciding on signing Hall to an extension.

I think the flames can again, try one more year next season to try to throw another 1st round pick, etc, to try to maximize this core's opportunity, with a strong rental.

However, at that point, I would definitely look at going back into rebuild mode, by maximizing returns on Monahan, Gaudreau, Giordano.

So again, I'm more comfortable in Hall being a rental, than signing him to one of the big $10 million/7 year deals, when we could be looking at rebuilding within 2 summers from now.