One of the favourites to land Hall swung and missed, the other didn't swing at all

In what can only be referred to as the mother of all shockers during this year's free agency, Taylor Hall has signed with the Buffalo Sabres, just weeks after declaring that the most important factor to him was not the money, but the ability to win. Yeah, a bit of a head-scratcher there, but nevertheless, here we are.

There were several other teams who were believed to be in the mix for Taylor Hall's services, including Nashville, Boston, Colorado and the Montreal Canadiens - many of whom believed were the favourites, given their abundance of cap space in the weeks leading up to free agency.

Well, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, via Hall's agent Darren Ferris, the Montreal Canadians were never close on Hall. In fact, they never made an offer, and probably had not intended to.

Of course, it seems all too obvious that a team who had shown a tendency to struggle, somewhat, offensively would pursue the top offensive free agent, because why wouldn't they? Well, the answer is fairly simple. Habs GM Marc Bergevin believes that his team has made enough strides through internal development and improved enough through the trade market to warrant passing on a puck-rushing talent like Taylor Hall.

With the arrival of Alexander Romanov and the trade for [and subsequent signing of] nasty defenseman Joel Edmundson, the Habs, who already showcased what they're capable of by knocking off the Pittsburgh Penguins in the play-in round of the postseason, have become undoubtedly more difficult to play against. Add to that the trade for Josh Anderson and his brand new 7-year, $38.5M contract inked just prior to free agency, and you have a much improved Habs team for 2020-21 and beyond.

Another interesting development that may or may not have led to Hall's decision to sign in Buffalo was that the pre-free agency odds-on-favourite to sign him, the Colorado Avalanche, came up short on their offer, according to The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta.

Pagnotta says that Colorado did, in fact, make a pitch to try to entice the former league MVP to sign in Denver, but offered a short-term deal at a significantly lower AAV than the $8M Hall signed for with the Sabres.

The stories that come out after free agent decisions are made are often very interesting - especially when a dark horse team like the Sabres, who are ot believed to be anywhere near playoff contention, lands a player like Taylor Hall.

Nevertheless, Hall's decision has been made, and there is plenty of room to prove the doubters wrong. Buffalo has some stellar pieces in place with Eichel, Dahlin and now Hall, and their secondary pieces like Skinner, Staal, Reinhart and Olofsson are definitely capable of causing the opposition some problems.

If there is a season to be had in 2020-21, I suppose we'll find out whether the Habs or the Avs will regret not taking a harder run at the former Hart Trophy Winner.

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