New Jersey Devils: A Dark Cloud Called Taylor Hall

The New Jersey Devils’ struggles have been well chronicled, especially on this site. There had been boundless rays of hope and positivity surrounding the Devils since the summer of fun took off all those months ago. For the first time in a long time, there was a renewed sense of optimism. It all felt right. It actually felt like winning hockey was coming home to New Jersey.

Man, that could not have been more wrong.

On the heels of another embarrassing loss, the Devils find themselves wallowing in the bowels of the Eastern Conference. Rays of light blanketing a once giddy fanbase have been replaced by dark and ominous clouds of dread and despair.

What happened? How could everything have gone so wrong, so fast for Ray Shero and his club? The finger pointed is becoming incessant and the blame game is reaching a fever pitch. Yet somehow, none of that has anything to do with what’s happening on the ice and it has everything to do with what is NOT happening off the ice.

The fanbase has been thinking about this since long before the puck dropped opening night against Winnipeg. It all comes down to the future of Mr. Taylor Hall.

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Shero spent the entire summer trying his darndest to satisfy the needs of the former NHL MVP. After last season ended, the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent made it very clear that he wanted to play for a winner and he intended to pay close attention to the Devils offseason plans. Hall basically gave the Devils an ultimatum – get better or I’m taking my talents elsewhere.

Shero and company appeared well on their way to fulfilling Hall’s wishes. The Devils went to work, putting together a summer for the ages, with the additions of Jack Hughes, P.K. Subban, Wayne Simmonds, and Nikita Gusev. Hall’s contract extension couldn’t be far behind. Right?

At least that’s what we thought.

NHL insiders bolstered our confidence in Hall re-upping. There was wild (yet credible) speculation that a contract extension could be done within the first month of the new season. This chatter quickly put the everyday fans’ excitement level through the roof. Suddenly, it was no longer a matter of “if” but “when.”

Then reality hit. The team got off to a horrific start and our bubble burst before we could even show it off to our friends and family. The first month of the season came and went. That feeling of an imminent extension for Hall quickly turned into a radical cry to trade the Devils’ best player. The worse the team played, the worse the ire towards Hall became.

Hall himself isn’t helping the matter any. He’s not showing up on the scoresheet, his body language is all wrong, he appears disinterested and aloof. Not to mention he’s somehow at odds with the fanbase. Hall publically called out the fans for booing the teams’ poor play. He then openly mocked the Prudential Center crowd with a “let’s hear it” goal celebration.

Shero did everything in his power to make this team better and more appealing to Hall and it didn’t work. The Devils’ history with free-agents is spotty at best. New Jersey has been burned numerous times by its own free agents, many were far more entrenched in the team’s identity than Hall.  Because of that, the mere thought of losing Hall was predestined to cast a shadow over the season so dark that nothing short of a longterm extension could lift it. Even that may not be enough.

The season has already lost its luster and a once-proud fanbase will once again find itself without its star and a whole lot of free time in April, May, and June.