Edmonton Oilers forward Taylor Hall admits that he’ll probably look into playing in Europe in the event of a prolonged lockout like many others.
Hall told Robert Tychkowski that his offseason shoulder surgery might make a brief lockout a good thing for him, though.
“With my shoulder situation it’s going to take me a little more time to figure out what I want to do,” Hall said. “A three-week delay in the season isn’t going to hurt me as much as it hurts other guys, so I’ll probably be one of the last guys to pick where I want to play ... But if it lasts long I’m going to have to get into a lineup and get playing hockey, because when the season does start, you want to be ready for it.”
Interestingly enough, Hall said he’d probably prefer to avoid the KHL, where the club Ak Bars Kazan likely owns his rights.
“They never said a word to me or my agent, so I’m not really sure why they picked me but I don’t think I’d want to go to Russia, to be honest,” Hall said. “I’d probably stay away from there if I had a preference.”
Perhaps he’s been speaking with Claude Giroux?