New Jersey Devils: Taylor Hall Finally Makes The Playoffs

The New Jersey Devils clinched the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. While this is a huge accomplishment, it’s most important to Taylor Hall.

Never again can someone say that Taylor Hall is not a winner. No one can say that Hall is not the player you want to be the best on your team. The questions about effort, work ethic, mindset, anything else that people have said about Hall, they are all out the window. The New Jersey Devils are going to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and it’s all thanks to Hall.

It’s been a long, and hard journey for Hall to make it to this point.

The 26-year-old winger from Calgary, Alberta, Canada came into the league with huge expectations. He was chosen over Tyler Seguin with the first-overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft. To this day, those two are still compared side by side.

He spent six seasons with the Edmonton Oilers with varying levels of success. The demands from the Edmonton media calls for perfection from day one. When a player is chosen first overall, most teams would expect the same. Hall was always a very good player on the Oilers, but he was always a rung below where he could be. He couldn’t hit 30 goals in a season. He dealt with multiple injuries. Then, there were the countless unfounded rumors about his “issues.”

Then he was traded.

The deal is one for one. Those words from TSN’s Bob McKenzie will live on forever.

People would defend the trade. Especially after the season the Devils had last year, compared to where the Oilers went, Hall looked like an easy scapegoat.

This season, however, Hall showed exactly what he could be. He’s likely the MVP frontrunner with just one game left in the season. In 75 games, he scored 39 goals and recorded 54 assists. He’s three points away from scoring the most points in Devils history. He scored 13 points more than he ever did in his career. He has a career-best +14 +/- (I know it’s a flawed stat, but it works here).

Then there’s the stat everyone loves to quote; Taylor Hall has 93 points. The next Devils player (Nico Hischier) has 51. For those who aren’t keen on math, that a 42 point difference between the number one player and number two. Never again can someone say Hall can’t carry a team to prosperity.

It took eight seasons. Eight grueling seasons it took for Hall to play his first postseason hockey game. Now, he will finally get a Stanley Cup Playoffs patch on his jersey.

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This season can erase the entire legacy of Taylor Hall coming into the 2017-18 season. He carried the first line, which a majority of the season consisted of rookies Hischier and Jesper Bratt. He carried a team that couldn’t score for long stretches. Hall literally scored a point in 26 straight games. It’s been more than 20 years since someone had a better streak.

For every great headline coming Hall’s way, there was always only one that mattered. Hall could have scored 100 goals, but if it ended in another season with an early vacation it would have been a failure. Now, Hall’s season is officially a success. Not only is this his best season ever, but it’s one that continues past the second week of April.

Just look at what Hall said after Thursday night’s game. It shows how much he appreciates this.

"“I think to do it with this franchise, not to rehash it, but how I got traded here, all we went through last year and the way we’ve been able to overcome everything this season and play our best hockey down the stretch. Im just really proud to be a part of this group.”"

This playoff berth means a lot to plenty of players, coaches and front office people, but it means most to Taylor Hall. He proved it.