Taylor Hall goes from No. 1 pick to MVP to Stanley Cup champion with the Hurricanes

Taylor Hall was a No. 1 pick in the draft in 2010. He was the NHL's MVP in 2018 .

No longer in the prime of his career, Hall was one of the biggest reasons the Carolina Hurricanes won 16 of 19 games during this playoff run.

“He’s fast, he’s physical (and) he makes great plays with the puck,” defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “He’s selling out to block shots. And so you need that. He’s really just been a complete player this whole playoffs.”

Hall at 34 took on a workmanlike role on a line alongside 23-year-old Logan Stankoven and 22-year-old Jackson Blake . That trio led the way through the first three rounds of the playoffs and in the final against Vegas . Hall was a force in every way — generating offense, hammering opponents and sacrificing himself on defense.

“Every line on our team has a physical aspect, and I think it falls on me to play like that,” Hall said. “ Florida last year, there wasn’t a guy on their team that didn’t hit and didn’t make it really, really hard to be on the ice against them and you watch and learn.”

With Chicago , Hall played Carolina on Jan. 20, 2025, and liked what he saw in a hard-fought overtime loss.

“I got a first-hand glimpse of the intensity in which we play,” Hall said.

His agent had approached him about the Hurricanes' interest in him and a few days later he joined them as part of the same three-team trade that got them Mikko Rantanen . Initially, Hall was not in shape to play coach Rod Brind'Amour's brand of hockey.