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New Jersey Devils: Emotions of Fans During the Taylor Hall Trade

By Luke Garrison

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 28: (R-L) Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Wayne Simmonds #17 of the Philadelphia Flyers, Taylor Hall #9 of the New Jersey Devils, Brad Marchand #63 of the Boston Bruins, Frans Nielsen #51 of the Detroit Red Wings, Erik Karlsson #65 of the Ottawa Senators, Victor Hedman #77 of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche, Justin Faulk #27 of the Carolina Hurricanes and Ryan McDonagh #27 of the New York Rangers look on during the 2017 Coors Light NHL All-Star Skills Competition at Staples Center on January 28, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NHLI via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 28: (R-L) Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Wayne Simmonds #17 of the Philadelphia Flyers, Taylor Hall #9 of the New Jersey Devils, Brad Marchand #63 of the Boston Bruins, Frans Nielsen #51 of the Detroit Red Wings, Erik Karlsson #65 of the Ottawa Senators, Victor Hedman #77 of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche, Justin Faulk #27 of the Carolina Hurricanes and Ryan McDonagh #27 of the New York Rangers look on during the 2017 Coors Light NHL All-Star Skills Competition at Staples Center on January 28, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Emotions after a trade, especially when it’s a high-caliber NHL player, can change a fan base. Here is where the New Jersey Devils fan base is right now after that Taylor Hall trade.

When Taylor Hall was traded Monday afternoon to the Arizona Coyotes, we were all patiently waiting to see what the Arizona Coyotes had offered in return. The emotions ran high for not only New Jersey Devils fans, but NHL fans as well. When we saw what we got back from the Coyotes, the fans reacted differently than what many had expected. Here are the types of emotions from fans discovered while looking for reactions.

The Fans Who Wanted Taylor Hall to Leave

This first part is all about the fans who are happy that Hall is gone considering the way he has been reacting this season. With his issues with the fans booing the team among other things, some felt it was a necessary move.

Fans knew that Taylor Hall was going to be traded away when the Devils began to play poorly within these first few games. What’s interesting is this, while he was sitting out the games between the Colorado Avalanche and the team he is going to be playing on the Coyotes, the team did in fact looked better than in the past few weeks. So those happy fans may have a point with their reaction of Hall leaving, maybe the team will finally get some wins together to get the team back on track.

The Grateful Fans

Now, we get to the fans reacting to the trade itself. When it was announced that one of the prospects we got in the trade was Kevin Bahl, fans were happy with what the Coyotes traded away. Some fans know who Kevin Bahl is and how good of a prospect he could be for the team in the future.

These types of fans are aware of the team and how this deal was going to work, like some of them know that the Coyotes were not going to trade away a big name prospect to get a rental like Taylor Hall. We should all be like these fans because they still love the team, and see the bright side in a big trade like this. All of our fan base should be like these fans, it might change the way we watch Devils hockey.

The Angry Fans

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I love Ray Shero. He has been a good GM for this team, and he does everything he can to make this team relevant. This is a time where fans can be outright disliked, simply for one reason.  They were praying that Ray Shero would try to swindle a good deal out of the Coyotes like he has done to other teams over the years.

One thing fans need to understand is that Ray Shero isn’t always going to do that. There are times where other teams will be smarter, and this is a good example. However these types of fans were not happy with the return, as they had hoped other prospects like Victor Söderström would be part of the deal for Hall.

When it was clear that it wasn’t, these fans were more angry and upset and now want Ray Shero to be fired for it. Like I stated earlier this is not on Shero, this is on the Coyotes, they are not giving up Söderström, so Ray Shero had to think of a different way to make it good for both sides. We should be thankful that he did his best, and try not be so angry, but anger is a familiar type of emotion when it comes to sports trades, so it’s logical.

When it comes to trading a big name player away, we feel so many emotions during the course of a trade. From happiness to anger, many emotions explain how a good or bad a trade can be. If you’re a fan of a sport and a player you really enjoy is about to be traded, its best to prepare on how you will act when a trade is announced, and I think this trade is a great lesson to learn about it.  I will miss Taylor Hall, like everyone and I hope he becomes a big part of the Arizona Coyotes team that is looking really good.

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