How Taylor Hall found his MVP form again with the Hurricanes

PHILADELPHIA — Before Logan Stankoven was Taylor Hall‘s linemate on the Carolina Hurricanes, he was a Taylor Hall fan.

Stankoven was 7 years old when Hall, now 34, debuted with the Edmonton Oilers in 2010. He loved watching Hall flying down the wing, using his speed to create offensive chances.

“He’s so fun to watch,” Stankoven said. “Plus he can just crush some guys. Definitely keep your head up if he’s around.”

The Ottawa Senators witnessed that firsthand in the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. In Game 3, Hall delivered a punishing forechecking hit on defenseman Jake Sanderson, with his shoulder connecting with Sanderson’s head. Sanderson didn’t play in Game 4. Hall was given a minor penalty and nothing further from the NHL Department of Player Safety. Ottawa fans were not pleased.

“I didn’t know what the reaction was going to be. Then I get the puck on the first shift and I’m getting booed,” Hall said. “I just had to refocus a little bit and know they were really going to be physical on me because of what happened. You can run away from it or lean into it, and that’s what I chose to do.”

As the Hurricanes roll through the playoffs at a record pace — they’re the first team to sweep the opening two rounds since the NHL’s current playoff format was established in 1987 — Hall has leaned all the way in. He has delivered pulverizing hits. He’s been an antagonist, drawing more penalties per 60 minutes (1.86) than any other Hurricanes skater.

But more than anything, he’s been a dominant offensive force: 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in eight games, including a game-winning overtime goal in Game 2 against the Philadelphia Flyers. His line with Stankoven and Jackson Blake is the best in the postseason, generating 67.2% of the expected goals at 5-on-5.

It’s been a while since hockey fans saw this version of Taylor Hall. “A lot of people are saying this is a blast from the past from him,” Stankoven said.

Hall is 16 seasons removed from being the first overall pick in the NHL draft. He’s nine seasons removed from winning the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP with the New Jersey Devils. When Carolina acquired him in 2025 as the sidebar to the large-type headline of the Mikko Rantanen trade, it was his sixth team in six seasons. Now, he has found a home with the Hurricanes and has played himself into the Conn Smythe conversation through two rounds of the playoffs.

“It’s unreal. It’s everything I could ask for. It’s a lot of fun to come to work right now. We work hard, but we do it with a smile on our face,” he said. “It’s not like this everywhere.”

Taylor Hall would know.

IN 2010, there was one question perplexing the NHL: “Taylor or Tyler?”

Taylor Hall was a tough winger for the Windsor Spitfires, scoring 106 points in 57 games in his final Ontario Hockey League season while winning a second straight Memorial Cup. Tyler Seguin was an elite skilled center for the Plymouth Whalers, scoring 106 points in 63 games in his last OHL campaign.

The Oilers were the worst team in the NHL in 2009-10 and retained their first overall pick in the draft lottery. They went Taylor over Tyler. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a more focused, competitive athlete,” Oilers GM Steve Tambellini said at the time.

Hall was the bright light in what would become known as the Oilers’ “Decade of Darkness” that spanned from their 2006 Stanley Cup Final loss to Carolina through the miraculous arrival of Connor McDavid in 2015. Hall had 328 points in 381 games. He had seven different coaches. He didn’t get a sniff of the playoffs.

In 2016, a new phrase entered the lexicon of NHL fans: The “trade is one for one.”

That was how venerable hockey insider Bob McKenzie of TSN started his tweet describing the deal that sent Hall to the Devils for right-shot defenseman Adam Larsson, the fourth overall pick in 2011 who hadn’t quite met his potential yet. ESPN gave the Devils an A-plus. The Oilers got a C.

After failing to make the playoffs again in his first season with the Devils, Hall would have a career-defining season in 2017-18: 40 goals and 55 assists for 95 points in 76 games, lifting New Jersey to its first playoff berth in six seasons. Hall won the Hart Trophy for a torrid stretch that saw him score points in 36 of his last 40 games of the season, including a remarkable run of 44 points in 22 games.

With free agency looming at the end of the 2019-20 season, the Devils shipped him to the Arizona Coyotes during an uncharacteristic spending spree from the now-defunct franchise. He spent 35 games with the Coyotes before becoming the most coveted free agent forward in 2020. Hall stunned the NHL by signing a one-year, $8 million contract with the Buffalo Sabres — not exactly the franchise someone who talked about chasing a Stanley Cup would pick at that time. But it reunited him with coach Ralph Krueger, for whom he had enjoyed playing in Edmonton.

Krueger was fired in March 2021. A few weeks later, Hall was traded to the Boston Bruins, where he’d make the playoffs for three straight seasons. Hall didn’t pass up the chance to make his mark on the biggest stage, tallying 17 points in 25 postseason games for Boston.

It was clear that when Taylor Hall had a chance to compete for a championship, his competitive fire still raged. But in 2023, facing a salary cap crunch, the Bruins shipped Hall and forward Nick Foligno to a very noncompetitive team: the moribund Chicago Blackhawks, who wanted Hall to mentor first overall pick Connor Bedard like he did Connor McDavid when the two were in Edmonton for McDavid’s rookie season.

Hall’s time in Chicago was hockey misery. His first season saw him recover from a shoulder injury only to have his season end after 10 games with ACL surgery. His second season saw coach Luke Richardson make him a healthy scratch without giving Hall any notice, something unusual for a veteran of Hall’s stature. The Blackhawks were abjectly terrible during Hall’s two seasons there, with the second worst points percentage (.345) in the NHL.

Carolina GM Eric Tulsky kept an eye on Hall in Chicago. Yes, he was 33 and in statistic decline. But his attributes ideally fit the Hurricanes’ system, like using his speed to cut down on the time and space of opponents, and using his skill to create chances in high-danger areas.

“He’s a very skilled player who we believed could fit with the way we want to play,” Tulsky told ESPN. “We’re looking for players who we think will come here and look their best, and he fit that mold for us.”

But there was another intangible Carolina liked: Putting a Stanley Cup back within Hall’s reach and seeing the former Hart Trophy winner emerge from his professional malaise.

“I mean, that was certainly part of it,” Tulsky said.

On Jan. 24, 2025, the Hurricanes shocked the NHL by acquiring Colorado Avalanche superstar Mikko Rantanen. Chicago helped facilitate that trade by picking up half of Rantanen’s salary and sent Hall to Carolina in the transaction.

Rantanen would play just 13 games with the Hurricanes before it became apparent that he wouldn’t sign long-term in Raleigh. Tulsky shocked the hockey world a second time by trading Rantanen to the Dallas Stars in a deal that sent Stankoven — now Hall’s very successful linemate — to the Hurricanes.

While Rantanen wouldn’t commit to the Hurricanes, Hall gladly did so, signing a three-year, $9.5 million extension last April. His journey after leaving Edmonton was a formative one. Hall said all the movement helped him “build emotional intelligence” as a player and become a better person.

But he was relieved to put roots down in Raleigh.

“I couldn’t imagine being in a better spot, teamwise. Just the mix of guys that we have,” Hall said.

JUST LIKE STANKOVEN, Carolina defenseman Jalen Chatfield was a Taylor Hall fan before he was Taylor Hall’s teammate. He played for the Windsor Spitfires in Canadian juniors from 2014 to 2017, and Hall’s legacy loomed large.

“They said he was a little older when he was coming here [to Carolina], but all I see is the young Hallsy,” Chatfield said. “Fast, elite skill and a great leader on our team, too.”

The Hurricanes’ dressing room doesn’t lack for veterans, whether its captain Jordan Staal, in his 20th season in the NHL, or defenseman Jaccob Slavin, fresh off a gold medal win for the U.S. in the Milan Cortina Olympics. Hall’s leadership, vocally and by example, has been a valuable addition to that group.

“I always talk to him. He probably doesn’t even know it, but I’m always picking things up from him,” Chatfield said. “The way he’s stepped up for us has been huge. A guy of his caliber is capable of that.”

That’s one reason the emergence of Hall’s line has been so exciting for the Hurricanes. Stankoven, who has seven goals in eight games, is in his third NHL season. Blake, 22, is in his second full NHL season, and he is second on the Hurricanes this postseason with 11 points. Hall has unlocked the offensive dominance of two key parts of Carolina’s future. Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook believes they’ve done the same for Hall.

“Those two young guys have brought the best out of Hallsy,” he said. “It’s always been there with him — he’s obviously been an MVP. But in the playoffs, he’s elevated his game, and that’s awesome.”

Game 2 against the Flyers encapsulated that effort. With five seconds left in regulation and the score tied, Philadelphia center Noah Cates had a chance in win it with the puck on his stick in the slot. Hall got low to the ice and made a kick save with his right skate to deflect the puck out of play.

“I wanted to challenge him and kind of went road hockey goalie there for a second,” Hall said. “Anyone on our team is going to sell out to try and block that if the situation comes. That was my turn.”

It was then his turn to play the scoring hero. Hall got a shot on goalie Dan Vladar while wearing Flyers forward Denver Barkey like a coat and falling to the ice. He got to his skates, and defenseman Travis Sanheim was unable to prevent Hall from knocking the puck in for the game winner.

“That’s a pro that just understands how to evaluate his game,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “The one thing about Hallsy that we know is that he wants to make a difference. That goal, to me, sums it up. You could almost tell when he grabbed it that he was like ‘I’m going to put this one away.'”

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Taylor Hall nets OT winner to give Hurricanes 2-0 series lead

Taylor Hall nets OT winner to give Hurricanes 2-0 series lead.

In Game 3, Hall was back to being the antagonist. In the second period, Hall skated over to deliver a hit on Sanheim, who had dropped to one knee after the puck was played ahead. Hall crushed him against the sideboards. The officials gave him a five-minute major penalty for boarding to review the call.

What could have been a turning point in the game was undercut when the penalty was reduced to a two-minute minor for boarding — and then Carolina vampirically siphoned the rest of the moment by scoring a short-handed goal 10 minutes later.

The Flyers would go after Hall for the rest of the night.

“It just felt like his hands drove my head right through the wall. I thought it was a pretty dirty play,” Sanheim said. “It just felt like he could have laid off a little bit. He decided to put me right through the wall. I guess that’s his decision.”

Hall didn’t have a point in Game 3. That he was still a force in the game is, in Hall’s estimation, a sign of his growth as a player.

“As you get older and you play this game a while, you have to figure out if you don’t have your A-game. do you have your B-minus game or something close to that? You find a way to contribute. That’s hockey,” he said. “As I get older and play this game more and more, you’re not always going to feel or play your best. But if you can find a way to contribute and not be an anchor on your line, then you’re good.”

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Hurricanes sweep Senators with 4-2 win

Hurricanes score three goals in the second half to down the Senators 4-2 and sweep the series.

Hall has played 989 games over 16 seasons without winning the Stanley Cup. His appearance last season in the Eastern Conference finals with Carolina was his deepest playoff run. He’s not Brent Burns (1,579 career games over 22 years) on the “Old Guy Without a Cup” ranking, but he’s certainly one of the biggest-name veterans still alive in the playoffs who is searching to raise the Cup for the first time.

“He wants to win. He’s doing whatever he has to do to help the team,” Brind’Amour said.

Conversely, the Hurricanes had been desperate to win under Brind’Amour. Despite being one of the NHL’s most successful and respected coaches, his teams have yet to play in the Stanley Cup Final in his eight years behind the bench.

“This team has been chasing it. When you step in this locker room, you know our culture. It’s either you get with it or you don’t,” Chatfield said.

Taylor Hall clearly gets it. And now he and the Hurricanes are eight wins away from getting what they’ve both been chasing for years.