New Jersey Devils 2016-17 Season Grades: Left Winger Taylor Hall
The New Jersey Devils acquired Taylor Hall in a blockbuster trade with the Edmonton Oilers. Hall instantly became the Devils best forward, and he didn’t take long to prove that on the ice. Without Hall on the ice, a bad season would have been a lot worse.
Hall was the main cog in the New Jersey Devils offense this year. The Devils sacrificed defense when they traded Adam Larsson for Hall, but you can easily see they made the right move. Let’s take a look at Hall’s season below.
Traditional Statistics
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | SOG | SH% |
| 72 | 20 | 33 | 53 | 238 | 8.4% |
| PPG | PPA | PPP | TOI | +/- | PIM |
| 7 | 8 | 15 | 1392 | -9 | 32 |
5v5 Advanced Statistics
| TOI | SOG | SH% | Points | CF60 | CA60 |
| 1065.75 | 587 | 6.36% | 29 | 59.01 | 52.72 |
| CF% | CF% Rel | GF60 | GA60 | GF% | GF% Rel |
| 52.81 | 7.06 | 2.18 | 1.88 | 53.74 | 11.54 |
(Statistics adjusted for score, zone, and venue)
Season Overview
Hall started the season off hot for the New Jersey Devils. He had 12 points in his first 14 games, including a 3 point night against the Coyotes in October. Hall was providing high-volume offense, with 60 shots in that span.
Unfortunately, Hall would get hit with the injury bug early in the season. He would miss 8 games after having knee surgery to fix a torn meniscus. The Devils were 9-3-3 at this point. They would end up going 2-4-2 in that stretch, with the two wins coming in OT and the shootout.
Hall would come back and be very streaky. His first 5 games after the injury saw him put up a 1.6 PPG average, including a 3 point night against the Predators. After that, he’d go 5 games without a point, then a 4 game point streak, a 4 game pointless streak, and a 6 game point streak. He also missed 2 games with a lower body injury during this time span.
The rest of the season was pretty solid from Hall. He would put up 22 points n 32 games for a very nice 0.69 PPG average. He would also have a shot in every game but two in that span. All things considering, it was a pretty solid first season for Taylor Hall.
Let’s Dig a Little Deeper
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Hall was tied with Kyle Palmieri for the New Jersey Devils points leader with 53, even with missing 10 games. He led the Devils with 33 assists. He was also the team leader in shots by a pretty wide margin with 238. His 0.74 PPG average was also the best on the Devils. The only offensive category Hall didn’t lead in was goals, which he tied for 2nd with 20.
Hall’s possession numbers tell another story. He was an absolute monster when it came to possession. His 52.81 5v5 adjusted CF% was good for 2nd on the Devils, and his 7.06 5v5 adjusted CF% relative was best on the Devils and 15th in the league among players with 750 minutes played.
He ranked 3rd in 5v5 adjusted GF% and GF% relative among Devils players with 500 minutes played. No one on the Devils produced more 5v5 scoring changes per 60 than Hall (8.98 SCF/60), and his 57.59 SCF% was also good for first.
These don’t even cover Hall’s zone entries. I rarely saw Hall dump the puck in the zone unless it was necessary. His transitions from the defensive zone to the offensive zone were fantastic. Before Hall, the Devils didn’t have anyone who could enter the zone like that.
Final Season Grade: A
Look, I know some people wanted more production from Hall, but it’s clear that he was still a force for the New Jersey Devils. The Devils consistently had more chances and shots when Hall was on the ice. He created goals and scoring chances for those around him better than anyone on the team.
Some people will look at things like the injuries and Hall’s +/- and try to say he wasn’t as good as advertised. Don’t listen to those people. Hall was easily the Devil’s best player all year-long. I hate the “who won the trade?” argument that happens on Twitter over the Hall/Larsson trade, but I think it’s safe to say the Devils made off pretty well.
Everything considering, I think a season grade of A is more than acceptable. Hall was a force for the New Jersey Devils pretty much every night. He made his teammates better, and the team was much better with him on the ice than off. He was a bright spot on a very bad Devils team, and will continue to lead them for future.
(Statistics via Hockey-Reference.com, Corsica.hockey, and NaturalStatTrick.com)