The Blackhawks can benefit from a healthy Taylor Hall this season

There have been moments from the Blackhawks first few preseason games that should excite fans. Brief moments that could tell the story for what is to come this season for hockey in Chicago. Moments that show just how talented a player can be, and how they can make an impact on the Blackhawks in a full season.

Taylor Hall, 32, has had a lot of those moments. Hall came to Chicago last season as one of the biggest adds Kyle Davidson had made as General Manager. Hall is a former Hart Trophy winner, someone who knows what it is like to be drafted first overall and someone the Blackhawks expected to play a lot of games with Connor Bedard last season.

After playing just ten games last season, Hall was placed on long term injured reserve after a knee injury ended his season. Entering his second season in Chicago, things look different.

During the Blackhawks, 3-2 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues, Hall looked like one of the best players on the ice.

Hall registered two assists and put three shots on net helping to generate offense for the team. Hall led the team in corsi for at five on five per Natural Stat Trick, and he just looked a step ahead of a lot of other players on the ice.

This is a big preseason for Hall. After missing most of last year, this is the time for Hall to get up to speed for the regular season – partly explaining why he made the trip to St. Louis. Hall spoke of how he felt after the game.

“I felt pretty good,” Hall said. “It’s a little different when you travel the day of the game and you get to the rink a little bit earlier then you’d normally get to the rink just the routine is thrown off a little bit.”

Hall played on a line with Philipp Kurashev and Ilya Mikheyev. The Hall line produced the most offensively of any of Chicago’s three lines, despite taking most of the defensive zone draws.

“I thought our line really dictated play well and we had a lot of zone time,” Hall said. “I thought we all had touches. We all had some good chances in plays – that’s all you can really wanna get from a preseason game.”

Hall spent time on the Blackhawks power play as well last night. He alongside, Kevin Korchinski, Philipp Kurashev, Patrick Maroon and Frank Nazar made up the top PP unit. Hall helped set up Maroon’s power play goal with a good pass in the slot.

⚠️Pat Maroon's first (preseason) goal as a Blackhawk⚠️ pic.twitter.com/FbG6t9y47Y

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) September 28, 2024

The Blackhawks went 1-3 on the power play on Saturday. Hall said the unit wanted to keep things simple on the man advantage.

“We got kind of thrown together this morning, we didn’t have any practice time,” Hall said. “We just tried to keep it simple, the focal point was to get pucks to the crease and to the net. In preseason and in the regular season, it’s always a good recipe and you get second chances, you get you get zone time and it was a good look for us tonight.”

Head coach Luke Richardson saw some positives in the loss, from the play of Petr Mrazek to the team’s first period.

“I think we executed the game plan perfectly in the first period,” Davidson said. “We kind of got a little tired mentally and physically and fell off from there.”

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