New Jersey Devils: Taylor Hall, We’re Sorry It Ended This Way

We’ve written just about everything we possibly can about the Taylor Hall saga coming to an end with the New Jersey Devils. Now, it’s time to formally apologize for the fact that it is ending at all.

This wasn’t supposed to end this way. This was supposed to end in nine years, with Taylor Hall playing his last season with the “C” on his chest. Maybe he was a little beat up, but in a Ryan Getzlaf type way where he’s still somewhat of a contributor. The New Jersey Devils were now perennial contenders, and Hall had multiple chances to prove he can be a major contributor on a team that goes far in the postseason. We are having outright discussions if the Devils first MVP should have his number go up in the rafters next to Patrik Elias.

Well, we now know there’s no chance this is how things end. The Devils are going to trade Taylor Hall to the highest bidder, and the only hope here is that it comes at a great return.

Hall was going to lead a newly reformed Devils team that was looking to build the next decade of contenders. P.K. Subban and Nikita Gusev were just the beginning of the change to this franchise. Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier were going to lead this team from 18 years old to the end of their careers, and for about half of that Taylor Hall was going to be by one of their sides.

When Hall first came to the Devils in exchange for Adam Larsson, it was considered one of the worst trades of all time. The Edmonton Oilers quit on a former first-overall pick right before he went into his prime. The Devils were getting the star they lost when Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk went home.

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This team should have treated the Hall era better. We don’t mean how the Devils treated Hall as a player or person, but we mean how the Devils treated the fact they had such a talent on the team. In his first season, he matched the 53 point team high with Kyle Palmieri, who was in his second season.

After making the big one-for-one trade, the Devils added Vernon Fiddler, Kyle Quincey and Ben Lovejoy. Those were average moves at best.

The next season, the Devils were able to draft Nico Hischier to really help, and they made the in-season trade for Sami Vatanen to secure the defense. They traded for Marcus Johansson in the offseason, and signed Will Butcher away from the Colorado Avalanche as a college free agent. They also signed Brian Boyle, who became a heart and soul type.

It felt like the right kind of retooling, but there were still flaws on the team. Still, it was the right mix of players that led to a playoff berth for the first time in five years.

Then, next offseason, they absolutely failed. We see that now, because saving the cap space for this season gave them absolutely nothing. They wasted a season. The Devils did get Jack Hughes, but it wasn’t enough to salvage Taylor Hall. The hype was short lives, as the Devils started the season 0-4-2. It was over before it even started.

The Devils could have had something special here. Instead, they have a bidding war for a superstar.

Now, Hall gets the distinction of being a player who was traded twice. He’s also going to probably be a “journeyman”. Four teams in ten seasons is not a good look when he inevitably signs with a new team in the offseason. He could have been the man who brought the Devils back to salvation. Now, he’s nothing more than a mercenary.

At the end of it all, Taylor Hall in New Jersey will be a punchline trade, one magical run the the MVP, one amazing playoff win sandwiched by four excruciating playoff losses and then a terrible finish as we just wait for him to go to another team.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.