RALEIGH, N.C. — The fact Taylor Hall had dropped onto the Blackhawks‘ fourth line influenced his trade to the Hurricanes last week in multiple ways, as it turns out.
Hall, who on Thursday will play his first home game in Carolina coincidentally against the Hawks, said he was frustrated by that reduced role and welcomed the move.
“My playing time in Chicago, for whatever reason, was not what I would’ve liked it to be,” Hall said. “So I was happy to be traded, and I was happy to come to a really good team here that has a culture in place and a structure that I feel fits well with me.”
Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson, meanwhile, said Monday that the Hawks decided to trade Hall when they did — rather than wait closer to the March 7 trade deadline — because they figured he wasn’t going to rack up many points in that position. A third-round pick was roughly what they expected in return, so they accepted it when offered.
“His role was diminishing almost by the game,” Davidson said. “It just wasn’t heading towards a way that was going to maximize or enhance value.”
Hall and ex-coach Luke Richardson seemingly didn’t see eye-to-eye on several things, including communication style and team strategy, but Hall was excited by interim coach Anders Sorensen’s arrival in early December. Even on Thursday, he praised Sorensen as a “really good coach.”
However, Frank Nazar and Colton Dach’s call-ups and Lukas Reichel’s improvement — and the Hawks justifiable desire to give those young forwards opportunities to develop — prompted Sorensen to eventually push Hall and Ryan Donato down to the fourth line. Hall, who averaged just 12:36 of ice time in his last six Hawks games, talked to Sorensen about being dissatisfied by that.
“Donato and myself, I felt like we produced pretty well five-on-five and we were both playing pretty far down the lineup,” Hall said. “He’s a free agent at the end of the year, too. I just don’t know if we were in their plans. Specifically, I don’t know if I was in their plans for the future. And that’s just the way it goes.
“They’re on a different timeline than my career is. I wanted to play more. I’m definitely a better player than the amount I was playing. But you also understand where they’re coming from. They wanted to play young guys. … I still have a lot of respect for the people there, and I did like being a Blackhawk a lot and loved the city.”
In the end, during a three-day gap in the Hawks’ schedule last week, Hall had heard through the grapevine he was likely being traded to the Hurricanes. He was confident enough to even ask Hawks teammate Teuvo Teravainen about the Hurricanes’ coaching staff, although Teravainen didn’t follow his drift.
But it didn’t end up happening until an hour before the Hawks’ game last Friday against the Lightning at the end of that mini-break.
“Patty Maroon came to the soccer [warmup] a little bit late and said they told him to get ready to play,” Hall said. “That was my cue to know that I might not be playing that night. And then from there, [I] was told that I had been traded.”
Other players were baffled by the suddenness.
“He was there at the rink, playing [soccer], and then the next thing you know…,” Connor Bedard said recently. “That’s the business of it. Obviously, it sucks. You’re hanging out with a guy one minute, and then he’s gone and he’s not at the rink anymore. It’s a weird thing.”
Bedard added that Hall was the “first guy” he would go to with many questions, especially about handling the off-ice pressures and responsibilities of being an NHL player, and that he would miss him. Bedard was “shocked” to learn — after the game ended — the full scope of the trade, with ex-Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen also being involved.
Hall has slotted into the Hurricanes’ top six for the moment, although within their deep roster, there’s no guarantee that lasts all the way through the playoffs. His speed up the ice does align with their ultra-aggressive forechecking style. Rantanen’s simultaneous arrival nonetheless overshadows him.
The Hurricanes are Hall’s seventh career team, and as a pending free agent this summer, he might relatively soon be on his eighth — which would tie the record for the most sweaters ever worn by a No. 1 overall pick. But Hall said earlier this month that his wife, Rachel, is “always ready for a good adventure,” and that’s what this represents.
“Not everyone’s career goes exactly how they want,” Hall said. “I can sit here and feel sorry for myself…but I’m excited to be here. I’ve played almost 900 games, and I have a chance at a Stanley Cup this year. That’s my mindset.”