Fearless Hall brings physical game as ascent continues
Oilers' top pick answers the call on ice, stat sheet
by Christopher Kober  |  Hockeytalk.biz

JANUARY 17, 2011 -- LOS ANGELES --  During Edmonton’s showdown with the Los Angeles Kings Saturday night, Taylor Hall was absolutely demolished by a hip check from Kings defenseman Drew Doughty. It was literally and figuratively a collision of two superstars in the making.

“Both of those kids went at each other early in the first period right in front of our bench,” said Kings head coach Terry Murray. “Hall came to Doughty and it was pretty intense. They were looking to hunt each other down and that’s two young guys that are going to end up playing against each other for 15 years, so it’s kind of setting the table for that kind of play.”

”I was a little bit surprised at Hall at the beginning,” Murray added, ”because I don’t know him that well, but he wanted to get his share of licks in there too.”

Murray is probably not alone in his surprise at Hall’s physical game, as the 19-year-old, listed at a generous 6’1” 194, is significantly more renowned for his offensive abilities. It was, after all, his 123 goals and 157 assists in three years of junior hockey with the Windsor Spitfires that made him the first overall pick in last summer’s NHL Entry Draft.

Hall ranks third in rookie goal scoring and point production and is the fourth overall point producer on the Oilers, with 14 goals and 13 assists.

“Taylor is just a fearless kid that wants the puck,” Oilers’ head coach Tom Renney told the Edmonton Sun. “He can play the game; he knows where the net is and navigates the ice extremely well.”

Injuries to Shawn Horcoff, Gilbert Brule and Jordan Eberle have forced Renney to shift Hall to center with the team’s top two scorers -- Dustin Penner and Ales Hemsky -- on his wings, essentially putting all of his eggs in one basket for now.

“I think they’ve got real good potential,” Renney said of the line after the 5-2 loss to the Kings. “They have played well I think they need a little more opportunity to play together. Sometimes it takes a little time to get some synergy, but I think they’ve been good. I think they did everything they could tonight to try to get us back into the hockey game and help us win, unfortunately we had a few too many passengers.”

Though Hall played center for much of his junior career, playing the pivot at the NHL level is a different story.

“He’s come leaps and bounds from the beginning of the season,” said Penner. “Now he’s in a new position, not necessarily new to him but new at this level. It’s one thing to play wing at the NHL level but then to play center, against number one checking lines on the other team, it’s tough. So he’s doing great.”

Through four games at center in the NHL, Hall’s faceoff percentage is only 37.1. While that includes an impressive 57.1 percent in the defensive zone, only seven of his 62 draws have come inside his own zone, indicating that Renney may be sheltering the young forward from some high pressure situations. On the other hand, Hall does rack up the most ice time per game of any rookie forward in the NHL.

As the Oilers continue the slow but steady process of building through the draft, ice time isn’t exactly at a premium. Hall and Jordan Eberle each log over 18 minutes per game. It’s one of the fringe benefits of being a highly touted prospect, joining a rebuilding team; the experience comes fast and furious. While relying on rookies to such an extent may not produce a playoff berth this season, it lays the groundwork for long-term success.

In 2005-’06, Sidney Crosby’s rookie year, the Pittsburgh Penguins finished 29th in the league. Two years later they were in the Cup Final and the year after that they won.

The Chicago Blackhawks finished 10th in the West while Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were rookies in 2008; two years after that they ended a 49 year Cup drought.

In 2007 the Philadelphia Flyers put up some of the worst numbers in franchise history, last year they were right back in the Final and they currently sit atop the Eastern Conference.

The years since Chris Pronger’s departure from Edmonton have not been kind to the Oilers, but the light at the end of the tunnel is not far off.  Some of the pieces gained in return for Pronger have begun paying dividends: Eberle was drafted with the 2008 1st round pick received from Anaheim, and defenseman Ladislav Smid plays a key role these days.

Hall is the future of the Edmonton Oilers. It remains to be seen, whether they can become the next team to return to Stanley Cup glory in the mold of the Penguins and Blackhawks, but with Hall at the helm alongside fellow rookies Eberle, Linus Omark and Magnus Paajarvi, as well as another likely lottery pick this summer, the Oilers’ rebuild seems to be right on track.

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