RALEIGH, NC — In Edmonton he was the number one overall pick. In Carolina he’s one of the guys and Taylor Hall is perfectly at home with that.
“It’s great. I mean, you never know where your career is going to take you,” Hall said in an interview with WRAL ahead of the second round the Stanley Cup playoffs. “I think that’s the thing that you know I look back on, and I learned, you never know where, where [you’re] going to play, and the situations that you’re going to end up in.”
Hall is leading the Hurricanes in points (7) and had two goals in Carolina’s first round sweep of the Ottawa Senators. He and his linemates, Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake, were standouts in the series.
“I think since the Olympic break, we’ve been playing really well. We support each other on the ice very well,” Hall said. “Those two guys win a lot of puck battles. They’re quick and elusive down low and we spread out in the offensive zone. We make good passes, we let the puck do the work. And when it’s time to get in front of the net and get gritty and all that, we do that, but it’s been a lot of fun.”
At 34 years old, playing meaningful hockey is exactly what Hall is looking for. Something he wasn’t getting to do on a rebuilding Chicago team last season. But then the Mikko Rantanen trade happened, a three team deal with Carolina, Colorado, and Chicago. Rantanen was the centerpiece of the deal, but Hall ended up being the player that fit.
“Bottom line, I was excited to get out of Chicago. I was excited to come to a team that, you know wants to compete for the Stanley Cup every year,” Hall said. “I came here, and it’s been an awesome fit, just on the ice, off the ice, I can’t ask for anything more.”
Hall might have felt like a throw-in in the deal, but he’s been anything but. He was the number overall draft pick in 2010 to the Oilers, he’s a 5-time All-Star, and won the Hart Trophy as league MVP with the Devils in 2017-18.
“I feel like I’ve come in and I’ve added my little part of it, but it’s a great, great thing to be one of the guys, you know, a cog in the wheel that is the Carolina Hurricanes,” Hall said. “Your career can take you different places and different roles and all that stuff. But I try to enjoy every part of that.”
Culture is one of the first words you think of when you think of Carolina. The team has made at least the second round of the playoffs in all of Rod Brind’Amour’s eight seasons as head coach. The team works really hard, but that isn’t the only thing that makes the organization special, according to Hall.
“You think culture, and you think like seriousness, and you have to have your game face on all the time,” Hall said. “It’s not like that here. We have fun working hard. I think that’s the biggest thing. And everyone loves being around each other. And then when the game starts, it’s about the details. It’s about how we play. You know, there’s no shortcuts in the way that we play.”
Hall found his place early on with the Hurricanes. Not just on the ice, but at the card table.
“I came to the team, and right away there was an opening at the card table on the plane, and I sat down, we won the game, and there were tunes blaring, guys were laughing, having a great time, and I was like, ‘man, this is pretty cool,'” Hall remembered. “Rod always talks about making memories along the way, and that’s what this is all about.”
Hall was born in Calgary. His father, Steve was an athlete too. He played in the Canadian Football League for the Toronto Argonauts, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Argonauts, and Ottawa Rough Riders. He was also a bobsledder.
“My dad trained me as a kid,” Hall said. “We were doing workouts when I was about nine or ten years old… we would go and I would run wide receiver routes.”
“I like to imagine that if he played hockey, he would skate like me,” Hall said. “I get a lot of my athleticism from him, but both my parents were instrumental in everything that I did.”
Hall and his wife are the proud parents of two boys. His youngest was born in Raleigh in the fall. Hall signed an extension last postseason. Carolina is becoming home.
“We love it here,” Hall said. “You know, going for walks in our neighborhood, we love the neighborhood we live in, and the people here have been awesome. There’s some great fans here. The atmosphere in this building is electric.”
As the second round of the playoffs is about to begin, Hall can’t help but imagine holding up his two boys and Lord Stanley’s Cup on home ice.
“That just gave me chills,that’s the dream, right?” Hall said. “Rod [Brind’Amour’s] done that in this building, you know, he’s lifted the cup here. And it’s cool to know that it’s possible, but that’s what we’re striving for.”
