The Carolina Hurricanes have signed forward Taylor Hall to a three-year contract extension worth $9.5 million, the club announced Wednesday. The deal runs through the 2027-28 season.
Hall, a former Hart Trophy winner, was acquired by the Hurricanes earlier this season via trade.
The team acquired Hall, 33, on January 24 as part of a three-team transaction. The package centered on the rantanen trade, which saw Mikko Rantanen arrive in Carolina while Martin Necas went to the Colorado Avalanche. Rantanen was later traded by the Hurricanes to Dallas.
General Manager Eric Tulsky indicated that discussions regarding an extension began shortly after Hall's arrival in January. Hall was previously on a $6 million contract and facing unrestricted free agency.
Hall expressed a desire to settle with his family. He mentioned having a baby due in the fall and that securing the extension before the playoffs helped him focus solely on playing.
Since joining the Hurricanes, Hall recorded 18 goals and 24 assists in 77 regular-season games between his former club and Carolina. He quickly bolstered the team's power play. Tulsky noted Hall's speed fit the team's aggressive system. "He’s been a solid veteran presence in the locker room and a difference maker on the ice," Tulsky said in a statement.
Hall commented on adjusting to the team's style. "I'm still picking up the finer points of more or less our D-zone system," Hall said. "But the other two-thirds of the ice is about pressure and trying to get the puck back in our hands. I've had a lot of fun getting to play with this team and just the high-pressure system and way that we play, it allows me to play with not a lot of thinking and it allows me to just go out there and hunt — hunt down pucks and do all the things that I think I'm pretty good at."
The announcement came the day after the Hurricanes eliminated the New Jersey Devils in five games. Hall contributed to the team's comeback in the series-clinching Game 5.
