Taylor Hall is no longer wearing a jersey for New Jersey.
After months of speculation, the first player in Devils history to win the Hart Trophy was traded to the Arizona Coyotes on Monday, along with AHL forward Blake Speers, for a first-round pick in next year’s draft, a conditional third-round selection in 2021, defenceman Kevin Bahl and forwards Nick Merkley and Nate Schnarr.
If the Coyotes win a Stanley Cup playoff round or if Hall re-signs with the team, the third-round pick becomes a second-round pick. It becomes a first-round pick if both of those conditions are met. The 2020 first-round pick is top-three protected.
The Coyotes were not allowed to talk to Hall ahead of time about a contract extension. The Devils are retaining some of his $6-million (U.S.) salary this season.
The move was inevitable since Hall is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and contract negotiations with the Devils never really progressed. The team was left with no choice but to trade their star winger in order to get some value in return. So they made this move with an eye toward the future, leaving their status of the current season in question.
The speculation was fuelled when the 28-year-old alternate captain, who leads the Devils with 25 points (six goals, 19 assists), was scratched shortly before the Devils took the ice to face Colorado on Friday night.
What started as the Devils acquiring a player to build around has ended with the club acquiring building blocks. They not had a player of Hall’s calibre in years, and he brought hope for the present and long-term future. Hall was acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Edmonton Oilers on June 29, 2016, in exchange for defenceman Adam Larsson. The now infamous 1-for-1 trade was a defining moment in the club’s rebuild and for general manager Ray Shero’s tenure in New Jersey.
Hall won the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player in 2018 after a 93-point season. He came one goal shy of 40 and he helped the upstart Devils to a playoff berth, snapping a five-year drought. At times that year, it seemed he was willing the Devils to win after win.
Chants of “MVP” rained down from the Prudential Center stands as he amassed a 26-game points streak, bringing life to a franchise that hadn’t had much of it since falling to the Los Angeles Kings in the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Devils lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the 2018 playoffs in five games. The team was unable to follow up on that season, and Hall didn’t even get much of a chance to do so. He reinjured his left knee and had a second surgery in February 2019.
Between his injuries and the roster deficiencies, the Devils finished well outside of a playoff spot and ended up winning the NHL draft lottery for the second time in three years. Hall was vocal about wanting to see improvements to the roster and Shero did make several acquisitions, but few have been successful.
They used the No. 1 overall pick to select centre Jack Hughes. While the 18-year-old has put together a good rookie season, he’s not elite just yet. P.K. Subban, acquired in a trade the day after Hughes was selected, has looked like a shell of his former self. Nikita Gusev has struggled with his adjustment to the NHL.
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Again, the Devils are back near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
The season has been so dismal the club dismissed coach John Hynes on Dec. 3 and replaced him with assistant coach Alain Nasreddine in the interim. Hall had been a vocal supporter of Hynes, citing his coaching as one of the reasons he won the Hart Trophy. With Hall and Hynes now gone, the Devils appear to be rebuilding the rebuild.