Everyone knows by now about the quality season that Taylor Hall just put up for the New Jersey Devils. He scored 39 goals and 54 assists for 93 points in 2017-18. That led the Devils by 41 points. That combined with a berth in the postseason for the first time since 2012, earned Hall the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player in the league. Taylor Hall is recognized amongst his peers as one of the best players in the National Hockey League.
Another organization to recognize his greatness is EA Sports. Popular hockey video game franchise NHL 19 released its top 50 player ratings in increments of 10. Hall was in the 10-20 range coming in at 16 with a 90 overall rating.
Some player comparable are fellow Hart Trophy nominees Nathan MacKinnon and Anze Kopitar, who are also at 90 overalls. Every player ranked 13-23 are 90 overalls, so there is good company.
If Hall were to come up with a another season like he just had, it is conceivable that he would jump to a 91 overall with an online update, which would put him in the 6-12 range. That includes superstars like Nikita Kucherov, Patrick Kane, and Evgeni Malkin.
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The highest ranked player in the video game is Connor McDavid at 94 overall. That guy is basically a video game in real life so this makes perfect sense. Sidney Crosby at 93 and Alexander Ovechkin at 92 round out the top 3. It is refreshing to see Taylor Hall among the best players in the video game.
There are some noticeable attributes given to Taylor Hall by the developers as well. The one that sticks out the most is his speed, which has a 95, which is one of the highest in the game. For reference, most people consider McDavid the fastest hockey player to ever live, and he has a 96 speed. So they recognize Hall as one of the fastest in the world, which he is. They also gave him a 93 wrist shot accuracy rating, which also makes perfect sense when you reflect on Hall’s 39 goals, most of them were in the form of a wrist shot.
Taylor Hall has emerged as one of the best players in the world, especially in the conversations for wingers. It will be exciting to think about where all of this can go if he keeps up the elite production. EA Sports NHL 19 comes out on September 14th, 2018.