New Jersey Devils: Taylor Hall’s Decision Isn’t Looking Great
The New Jersey Devils had some good times with Taylor Hall on the roster. He was a great player for them and made some spectacular plays for the few years he called the Garden State home. He was even the first Hart Trophy winner in the history of the franchise. What he did was remarkable and it even helped them end a five-year playoff drought. He deserves respect for those times, but the way it ended put a bad taste in a lot of fans’ mouths. However, the Devils are smart for trading Hall when they did because things haven’t gone well for him since.
The New Jersey Devils are lucky that they didn’t give Hall a massive contract.
With the Buffalo Sabres coming to the Prudential Center, Hall will be making his first return to New Jersey since the trade. The Devils have been a much better team without him and his personal success hasn’t been what he would have wanted. He claimed he wanted to go to a team that has a chance to win. Then he chose the Buffalo Sabres, who have the longest active playoff drought in the NHL.
In 13 games so far this season, he has one goal and eight assists for nine points. That is not going to get it done on an $8 million contract. It is going to be hard for him to get the kind of money he could have had if he signed an extension with the Devils. Instead, the Devils traded him away and got some nice assets in return.
First of all, Nick Merkley was the third piece in the trade. He has been up and down from the big squad and the taxi squad all year. He has the same number of goals as Hall in the NHL this season and brings a ton of energy to every game. He is a ton of fun to watch in the Devils’ bottom six.
Kevin Bahl was the big prospect who came back in the trade. He hasn’t cracked the Devils lineup in the NHL yet, but he is on his way. Bahl is playing with the Binghamton Devils right now. He isn’t an offensive-minded defenseman by any means, but he is a big kid who plays hard. If he brings that big stature to the NHL, he is going to make life difficult for a lot of people.
We didn’t even mention the biggest piece in the deal that came back to the Devils from the Arizona Coyotes in the Hall trade. That would be the 1st-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. That pick turned out to be Dawson Mercer, who has really stood out this season. He was a very impressive player on a loaded Team Canada in the World Junior Classic. On Thursday, playing for the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the QMJHL, he scored a hat trick to bring his total to eight goals and six assists for 14 points in 11 games so far this season.
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It was a tough decision by Hall but it will be interesting to see how that changes the rest of his career as he may get traded again and will be a free agent again. Rumors say that he wants to sign a long-term deal this week, but we’ve been there and done that. As long as the Devils continue doing what they are doing, they should have a chance to beat the Sabres and should have a chance to be a playoff team.