Taylor Hall of the New Jersey Devils should run away with the Hart Trophy this season
The 2017-18 Hart Trophy race is down to the final stretch. It’s a very close race with three extremely deserving candidates. Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon is quite deserving. So is Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar. Heck, Claude Giroux should be in the discussion too. But the most deserving candidate is New Jersey Devils forward Taylor Hall.
This season, he’s been the forward everyone knew he could be. Hall has been the forward who he couldn’t be in Edmonton because of a lack of talent around him. The Devils have taken the NHL by surprise this season. No one expected them to be a competitive team. However, the Devils are in the playoffs. And it’s largely due to Hall.
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The Hart Trophy goes to the player deemed to be the most valuable to his team. It’s hard to argue Hall hasn’t been incredibly valuable to the Devils. As of April 6, he has 93 points (39 goals and 54 assists). These are each career-highs for Hall and he leads the Devils in each category. Nico Hischier is in second place while Kyle Palmieri is in third. Combined, Hischier and Palmieri have 95 points, just two shy of Hall’s total.
Even if you look at goals, those two players have 43 goals combined, which is merely four fewer goals than Taylor. Will Butcher (second in assists) and Hischier (third in assists) have 61 assists compared to Hall’s team-leading 54. So in short, he is almost lapping his teammates in goals, assists, and points.
Maybe Ray Shero should be slapped for having a roster that relies so significantly on one player. But Hall shouldn’t be punished for that since it’s not his fault. In fact, it makes his season even more impressive. Hall’s been the guy who opponents focus on stopping. They know if they can stop him, they can stop the Devils. Despite this, Hall’s still been extremely dominant.
Hall has brought far more value to the team than just his scoring. He’s also had an outstanding influence on the Devils’ possession numbers. Here’s how Hall ranks on his team in relative possession numbers at five-on-five.
- Relative Corsi For percentage – first (+3.85 percent)
- Relative Fenwick For percentage – second (+3.18 percent)
- Relative Shots For percentage – second (+3.88 percent)
- Relative Goals For percentage – first (+13.71 percent)
- Relative Scoring Chances For percentage – second (+4.60 percent)
On top of this, he has been a positive influence defensively. Granted, Hall shouldn’t be in the Selke conversation. But still, for a wing to help his team allow fewer shot attempts at five-on-five when he’s on the ice, that’s nothing sneeze at.
If you really want to nitpick, Hall’s production has relied a bit on the power play. He has 37 power play points. This is tied for third in the NHL and it’s the highest of all the serious Hart Trophy candidates.
But in fairness, a point on the power play counts as much as a point at even strength. And Hall’s still been very dominant at even strength. He ranks 15th in even strength points. So if anyone tries to say he relies too much on the power play, tell them they are fake news.
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Thank goodness the Devils are in the playoffs. Because it would have been a tragedy for Hall’s incredible season to not be at least considered for the Hart Trophy solely because his team didn’t make the postseason. His statistical dominance combined with the narratives surround the Devils make him the Hart Trophy favorite.
All stats are courtesy of Natural Stat Trick