The New Jersey Devils have gotten off to a solid start to the season, going 14-7-2, but we’ve seen levels of dominance from them that would potentially warrant a record even better than that. Offensive inconsistency has plagued them at times; they’ve already been shut out three times, almost tying the four times they were shut out all of last season. A large reason for this is a lack of consistency from some of their depth forwards.
It feels like just adding one middle-six forward could help balance the lineup and add that extra touch of offense. Insert Taylor Hall, who is already one of the most-beloved players to the Devils’ fanbase.
A Hall Return to New Jersey? Are You for Real?
Yes, I know the idea kind of sounds like some fantasy scenario. But there’s a few reasons why the idea could work especially well, and heck, they’ve already achieved success in reviving a former fan favorite in Stefan Noesen. What’s one more?
Hall appeared to be unhappy with the Chicago Blackhawks when unexpectedly being named a healthy scratch on Saturday, Nov. 16th. “I was surprised. It was unexpected, from the standpoint of I just didn’t know I was even close to being in that spot, really. If there were some conversations in the days leading up about my game, or if I was constantly being shown video, that would be one thing. So I was a bit surprised,” he said after the contest.
The surface numbers aren’t great: He has just two goals and four assists in 20 games. But when the Blackhawks started off the season more competitively, Hall had all of those points in a 13-game span. Then he tailed off, going point-less in his last seven and seemingly checking out, along with most of the team, in what has been a tough stretch.
The Blackhawks don’t really produce much offense; they’ve lost five of those last seven while giving up just 2.57 goals per game. They’ve averaged 1.71 goals themselves over that span. It’s hard to fault Hall while he’s mostly played on a line with Tyler Bertuzzi and Philipp Kurashev, who have both arguably struggled more than Hall.
Related: New Jersey Devils’ Sheldon Keefe Commends Luke Hughes’ Improved Defense
He may never again come close to his Hart Trophy season in 2017-18 for the Devils where he put up 93 points in 76 games, practically dragging them to the playoffs single-handedly. But from 2020-2023 with the Bruins, he posted a very respectable 111 points in 158 games. He dealt with an ACL surgery that kept him out most of last season but proclaimed that he was “100% healthy again” coming into this one.
It’s a very small sample (around 25 minutes), but he’s had a 71.42 expected goals for percentage (xGF%) with tinkered lines (with Connor Bedard/Bertuzzi and Ryan Donato/Ilya Mikheyev) – which both would make for the most effective line in hockey if they were eligible (min. 70 minutes ice time). The flashes of old dominance have been there. (via MoneyPuck.)
Hall’s Contract & Underlying Numbers
Hall would just be a rental, as he’s on the final year of his four-year, $24 million deal ($6 million annual cap hit). But with the counting numbers not being too great, his asking price should be extremely low. It should be pretty easy for the Devils to get Chicago to eat a good chunk of that salary. The Blackhawks are likely still years away from contending, so taking anything they could get for Hall would be better than nothing.
And based on some decent underlying numbers, it would not be a surprise to see Hall get back to playing consistent, solid hockey in New Jersey. The forward group would look something like this:
| LEFT-WING | CENTER | RIGHT-WING |
| Ondrej Palat | Jack Hughes | Jesper Bratt |
| Timo Meier | Nico Hischier | Stefan Noesen |
| Taylor Hall | Erik Haula | Dawson Mercer |
| Tomas Tatar | Paul Cotter | Nathan Bastian / Curtis Lazar* |
They could even attempt to bring back the Hall, Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt line that played 49 games together during Hall’s MVP season. They had the highest expected goals for of any forward line on the team that season. While Hall may not be the same player he was then, Hischier and Bratt are much better now.
Many Devils fans clamored for Adam Henrique to return at last season’s deadline but didn’t get their wish. If Hall returned, that would quickly be forgotten. At the very least, it’s worth keeping an eye on. If his underlying numbers are consistent enough and the price and retention are right, that could end up becoming a move that pays dividends for New Jersey.
