Why Do New Jersey Devils Play Better Without Taylor Hall?

The New Jersey Devils just went into Boston and beat the Bruins 5-2 in a great performance. What makes it even more impressive is they did it without their star Taylor Hall.

There are some phenomena in sports that never make sense. The one that makes the least sense, but works itself out more times than it should is the famous Ewing Theory. It came during the 1999 NBA Playoffs, when the New York Knicks lost Patrick Ewing. They ended up going all the way to the NBA Finals as an eight seed without their star center. This might be what’s happening with the New Jersey Devils.

The team was without Taylor Hall on Thursday when they took on the Boston Bruins. It looked like they were set up to fail. MacKenzie Blackwood was getting the start in net, and he has very little NHL experience. The Devils came in as the worst team in the Eastern Conference, and with a loss they would fall to the bottom of the league. Marcus Johansson was already out, and we learned that star player Taylor Hall would miss the game as well.

Yet, somehow, the Devils won the game.

The Devils are actually 2-0-1 without Hall in the lineup. They won games against the Bruins and Vegas Golden Knights, and took the Nashville Predators to overtime. These are the games we’ve seen the Devils lose 7-2, yet they got five out of six points without their star player. The big question we need to answer is “why?”.

Let’s look at the simple stats. The Devils take an average of 33.3 shots per game this season. That’s good for seventh in the entire league. Without Hall, they average exactly 33 shots per game. Hall averages about 3.42 shots per game, so that means when he’s out they replace his shots.

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It’s more than that, however.

Let’s take a look at high-danger chances. In Thursday night’s game, the Devils had 12 high-danger chances against the Bruins, with then getting 10 against them. Against the Predators, they won the high-danger battle 13-12. In the game against the Golden Knights, they had 11 changes against Vegas’ 7. Now, this looks really good, but it’s not even as good as the Devils usually have it. They are actually fourth in the whole league in high-danger chance percentage with 54.88%.

Honestly, not a lot makes sense as to why the Devils play better without Taylor Hall. The numbers say this team is better with Hall on the ice (obviously). The only thing that really changes is the mindset of this team. The bottom lines seem to step up much more when Hall is out of the lineup.

Miles Wood has two points in three games with Hall out of the lineup. He has seven points in the other 33. Travis Zajac has three points with no Hall. Blake Coleman also has three points. Brian Boyle and Jesper Bratt both have two points in three games without Hall. The players behind the first line step it up when they know they don’t have their star to carry the load.

Now, head coach John Hynes needs to change the mindset of his team when Hall is in the lineup. There’s a feeling of desperation when Hall doesn’t play. That’s good for this team. Every game should have that feeling because they are 10 points out of a playoff spot. They are desperate, and they need to show it. If they play this type of hockey when Hall returns, then they could really do something with this season.