Taylor Hall Will Be Valuable To The 2024-25 Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks took a huge blow to their lineup when Taylor Hall was deemed out for the season. He isn’t the player that he was in his prime but he still has the skills necessary to help a hockey team.

Hall has spent moments in his career with the Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils, Arizona Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, and Boston Bruins before coming to the Chicago Blackhawks. That’s a lot of teams but he has been an elite player through a lot of it.

Over the 832 games that he has played, Hall has scored 266 goals and has 431 points for 697 points. That level of offensive production isn’t Hall of Fame level or anything like that but it doesn’t grow on trees either. He has lived up to being a number one overall pick.

The high mark of his career came in 2017-18 when he had 39 goals and 54 assists for 93 points. He played a big role in dragging the New Jersey Devils into the playoffs with that performance. He won the Hart Trophy as the MVP of the league that year.

So despite him not being in his prime anymore, he has those types of experiences that can help the 2024-25 Chicago Blackhawks. Being a first-overall pick himself, he has helped many other first-overall picks who came after him as he seems to be a lottery good luck charm.

Stars like Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nico Hischier, and Jack Hughes have all benefited from having him. He can be that for Connor Bedard this year if he is healthy.

The mentorship that he can provide for Bedard and the other young players in the organization is invaluable. Kyle Davidson traded for him for a reason and this should be the year that he shows why.

That leadership along with the skills that he has when he’s healthy can help this team take a step forward. When you add in some of the other good veterans that Davidson brought in like Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen, the offensive depth is improved. Bedard didn’t get that much time with Hall last year so this is his chance. For a team starving for goals, that will make a difference.

Hopefully, he stays healthy. It sounds like he is on track to be ready for this season after a tough surgery that took him out last year. If he can be a contributor to this team going forward, they will be better for it.

With his contract expiring, he may even become good trade bait for Kyle Davidson ahead of the deadline. Getting something good back for him will have made all of this even more worth it.