Should the Devils Pursue a Taylor Hall Reunion?

This isn't about nostalgia. There might be legit hockey reasons for the New Jersey Devils to pursue a Taylor Hall reunion.

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We know what the New Jersey Devils' trade deadline needs are and that general manager Tom Fitzgerald will address them in due time. Perhaps that's before the 4 Nations Face-off a month from now, but the trade deadline is less than two months away. A move will come soon.

One player he could target is former Devil Taylor Hall, who believes he will get traded before the deadline. Putting aside how Hall's tenure with the Devils ended, (I know it left a sour taste in some fans' mouths), let's look at his play and whether he could be a fit for the Devils to upgrade their depth scoring.

Hall Still Has Some Gas Left in the Tank

You might look at Hall's counting totals and think he's washed or doesn't have what he used. He has 22 points in 43 games, a 42-point pace over 82 games, so you wouldn't be incorrect, per se.

However, Hall is not washed. He might not be the player he used to be with the Devils, but there's still an effective middle-six winger here. The Chicago Blackhawks aren't a good team and are even a bit worse than I thought they'd be this season, but Hall has held his own.

He’s the Blackhawks' third-most efficient five-on-five scorer, averaging 1.79 points per 60 minutes. For context's sake, that'd tie Hall with Stefan Noesen as the Devils' fifth-most efficient five-on-five scorer.

While he may not be the chance generator he was in his prime, Hall still creates 7.26 scoring chances per 60 minutes. That puts him third on the Blackhawks behind Ryan Donato and Craig Smith and slightly ahead of Connor Bedard.

But perhaps most importantly, he still seems like a decent rush player. Hall has averaged 0.63 rush attempts per 60 minutes, ranked third on the Blackhawks to Louis Crevier and Frank Nazar. That's important because for those who remember, Hall's strength in New Jersey was his play-driving and rush ability.

He's not that player anymore, and it'd be unfair to expect that of him, even if he moves to a better team like the Devils. But it appears Hall still has some rush ability, and grades out pretty well in Corey Sznajder's tracked microstat data.

When looking at the Devils' roster, they're missing a facilitator outside of Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier. You can probably throw Timo Meier in that group, even though he isn't scoring at the rate the Devils need him to. He can still drive play, and his numbers reflect that.

That missing facilitator is especially true in the Devils' middle six. Erik Haula, though out with an injury now, has struggled mightily this season. Paul Cotter has played well for the most part, but he's not a play driver. Neither is Dawson Mercer.

Of course, you'd like to give Hall a look alongside Hughes and Bratt to see if that works. But if not, he'd be a massive upgrade to the Devils' third line. It'd finally have a facilitator, and I bet Mercer's production would improve if Hall is his linemate, especially if the Devils also add a third-line center.

Hall Should Not Cost Much in a Trade

There are legitimate hockey reasons to want to pursue Hall if you're the Devils, and it honestly has nothing to do with nostalgia. He can help this team, and the Devils should be able to make a trade without too much hassle.

Scott Powers, who covers the Blackhawks for The Athletic, stated that most league sources he spoke to believe the Blackhawks can get a third-round pick for Hall. Maybe there's a slight chance they can get a second, especially if they retain 50 percent of his $6 million cap hit.

Per PuckPedia, the Devils currently project to have $5.716 million in deadline cap space, and that number will likely increase to around $7 to $7.5 million as they accrue cap space up until the March 7 trade deadline (as long as they don't have to dip into LTIR).

The Devils will need 50 percent retention on Hall if they want to make more than one deadline move, which I imagine they do since there are no runaway favorites in the Eastern Conference this season. At least not yet.

Fortunately, the Devils have three second-round and two third-round picks in the 2025 draft. So if Hall is a target, they shouldn't have much trouble acquiring him, even with retention.

Hall at $3 million seems like a reasonable upgrade for the Devils. They don't have a player like him in their middle six, and head coach Sheldon Keefe could likely move him between the second and third lines. That versatility is something Keefe doesn't have much of with the current lineup.

Another thing to consider is that it could be a weird trade deadline with so many teams still in the playoff race, especially in the Eastern Conference. How many sellers are there going to be? At least with the Blackhawks, you know they will be sellers, so Hall will likely be available.

Hall Is a Fit for the Devils

I know many fans didn't love the way Hall departed from New Jersey. But that was a long time ago; five years, to be exact. Still, he's a fit. Even Frank Seravalli speculated Hall (and Kyle Palmieri) could be trade deadline targets for the Devils.

The acquisition cost shouldn't be much, and Hall is the type of player the Devils could use in their middle six. There's no nostalgia here. He can help improve the team's scoring depth and give them another facilitator, which are their biggest needs ahead of the trade deadline.

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