Taylor Hall

Taylor Strba Hall is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger currently playing for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. He was the first overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft selected by the Edmonton Oilers. Hall helped lead the Windsor Spitfires to two consecutive Memorial Cup championships in 2009 and 2010. In 2016, he was traded from the Oilers to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Adam Larsson. In his second season with the Devils, Hall won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player.

About Taylor Hall in brief

Summary Taylor HallTaylor Strba Hall is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger currently playing for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. He was the first overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft selected by the Edmonton Oilers. Hall helped lead the Windsor Spitfires to two consecutive Memorial Cup championships in 2009 and 2010. In 2016, he was traded from the Oilers to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Adam Larsson. In his second season with the Devils, Hall won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, becoming the first Devils player in franchise history to win the award. Hall was ranked as the top North-based prospect by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau in its 2009–10 midterm rankings. His father was a former Canadian Football League player for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Argonauts and Ottawa Rough Riders in the mid-1980s, after which he was a member of the Canadian national bobsleigh team. He is the son of Steve Hall and Kim Strba. Hall started playing minor hockey in Calgary, Alberta. When he was 13, his family moved to Kingston, Ontario, where he continued to play. His mother introduced him to organized hockey at age five while his father maintained a backyard rink every winter which Hall and his friends practiced on relentlessly. He played Bantam and Minor Midget hockey for the Greater Kingston Predators of the ODMHA league. Hall made his OHL debut in 2007–08, scoring a team-high 45 goals and adding 39 assists for 84 points, which was third in team scoring.

He scored the game-winning overtime goal in the fifth and deciding game of the OHL Finals against the Brampton Battalion to clinch the title. In the 2008–09 season, Hall was selected to represent the OHL in the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge. He was one of three Canadian junior players taken in the 2009 KHL Draft, which begins selecting players one year younger than the NHL does. Though the odds of him playing in Russia were remote, Hall was drafted 89th overall by the Kontinental Hockey League’s Ak Bars Kazan on June 1, 2009. In May 2010, Hall helped the Spitfires lead the NHL to their second-straight Memorial Cup victory. He also won the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as Playoff MVP. Hall finished the 2009-10 season tied for first place in the OHT with Tyler Seguin with 106 points in 19 games. He won the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy alongside Seguins for the 2010 J, Ross Robertson Cup championship recording a playoff-leading 35 goals, 20 assists, and 20 goals in 19 playoff games. In 2011, he played in the NHL All-Star Game in 2011, 2016 and 2018. In 2012, he won the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy for the second straight year as the most valuable player of the Memorial Cup tournament both years. In 2013, he received the Edynoweth Trophy as tournament MVP, the Chynowth Trophy as memorial tournament MVP and a spot on the tournament all-star team.