AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n
Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n When Taylor Hall made his NHL debut in 2010, Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake were 7.<\/p>\n Read more 4 Top New Movies and TV Shows to Stream This Week (June 2-5): \u2018Not Suitable for Work’ and More<\/a><\/p>\n Asked what he was doing when Hall entered the league, the now 22-year-old Blake laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cI was probably annoying my parents, annoying my mom,\u201d Blake said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what I was doing, but yeah, it\u2019s crazy to think of stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Stankoven admits he doesn\u2019t remember much about Hall\u2019s rookie season with the Edmonton Oilers either. But he remembers the hype: Hall was the can\u2019t miss prospect, the No. 1 overall pick destined to become one of hockey\u2019s next great stars.<\/p>\n The crescendo of Hall\u2019s career perfectly coincided with the growing hockey conscious of Blake and Stankoven as young boys. Blake remembers watching Hall\u2019s \u201cspecial\u201d 2017-18 MVP season with the New Jersey Devils.<\/p>\n Stankoven mostly remembers Hall\u2019s speed. It\u2019s the same speed the 23-year-old center still witnesses from the veteran and current teammate at age 34.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a blast from the past, the way he\u2019s been playing lately,\u201d Stankoven said, \u201cHe\u2019s so skilled out there. He sees the ice really well.\u201d<\/p>\n Back then, Hall was a superstar Stankoven and Blake watched on television. Today, he\u2019s simply \u201cHallsy.\u201d He\u2019s their linemate.<\/p>\n And together, the trio of Hall, Stankoven and Blake has become one of the biggest reasons the Hurricanes are in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20 years.<\/p>\n The timing could hardly be more fitting for Hall.<\/p>\n Sixteen years after Hall entered the league, the veteran forward is playing some of the best hockey of his career. Hall leads the Hurricanes with 16 playoff points, and his linemates are right behind him. Blake is second with 15 and Stankoven is third with 12 while leading the Canes with nine goals.<\/p>\n With Hall\u2019s line leading the way, the Hurricanes reached the Stanley Cup Final in just 13 games \u2014 becoming the first team to get there in 13 games or fewer since the NHL adopted its current four-round, best-of-seven playoff format in 1986-87.<\/p>\n With a Stanley Cup win, Hall would make history by tying the longest gap between being selected No. 1 overall and winning a first Cup. Alex Ovechkin\u2019s 16-year wait from the 2004 draft to Washington\u2019s 2018 championship set the record. Erik Johnson, drafted first overall by St. Louis in 2006, waited 16 years before winning his first Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2022.<\/p>\n Hall would be the third. And for many of the Canes, that adds an extra layer of motivation to the Cup Final.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, we want to win it in general, for everyone\u201d said defender Shayne Gostisbehere, who turned 33 in April. \u201cBut especially Hallsy and the older guys like myself, it\u2019s our first time here out of our whole careers. We just want to win it all.\u201d<\/p>\n Not long ago, Hall\u2019s career appeared to be headed in a different direction.<\/p>\n Carolina acquired Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks in January 2025 as part of the blockbuster deal that brought Mikko Rantanen to Raleigh. Rantanen was the star. Hall joined the Canes as the far-less heralded player.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters on Monday, Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky believed Hall\u2019s combination of speed, skill and physicality would fit Carolina\u2019s system. Hall believed there was more hockey left in him than many outsiders realized, but understood the Canes were taking a swing.<\/p>\n The Canes\u2019 bet has paid off.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talked about injuries. We talked with people who had played with him on other teams, people who had coached him on other teams,\u201d Tulsky said. \u201cWhat he was like as a person? How he would adapt if we bring him in? Because you never know until they get here.<\/p>\n \u201cBut on that one it worked out,\u201d Tulsky continued. \u201cHe\u2019s been incredible, absolutely incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n Hall arrived from a difficult situation in Chicago and initially spent time lower in Carolina\u2019s lineup while learning coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour\u2019s demanding puck-possession system.<\/p>\n Soon, everything clicked. Hall was so comfortable that he signed a three-year extension less than four months after arriving.<\/p>\n Read more Durham DA warns city that proposed prosecutor cuts could hurt her office<\/a><\/p>\n Raleigh felt like home.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way we play is conducive to how I play hockey and how I think about hockey,\u201d Hall said. \u201cOnce I got the system down and the details of where I need to be, that allowed me to not have to think a lot out there.\u201d<\/p>\n The result has been a late-career renaissance. Hall has leaned into his physicality. His teammates attest to his warmth off the ice, but Hall\u2019s a bully in the rink, and his line with Stankoven and Blake has been the best in the league all postseason.<\/p>\n The trio combined for 16 points in Carolina\u2019s first-round sweep of Ottawa, led by seven from Hall on two goals and five assists. Hall led the way again in a second-round sweep of Philadelphia, accounting for seven of the trio\u2019s 15 points in the series.<\/p>\n Hall and Co. started more slowly against Montreal, but the line still produced 12 points in five games, with Hall, Stankoven and Blake each recording four.<\/p>\n Hall doesn\u2019t look like a player hanging on.<\/p>\n He looks like the player Stankoven and Blake remembered watching years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve given me a lot of energy,\u201d Hall said of Stankoven and Blake. \u201cThey\u2019re great players. They\u2019re very unique players \u2014 their size and how they go to the hard areas of the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey seem young,\u201d Hall continued, \u201cbut they\u2019re very mature in the way that they play \u2014 and mature in a way that I wasn\u2019t at that age.\u201d<\/p>\n Blake (22) and Stankoven (23) have known each other since youth hockey. They\u2019ve been roommates on the road since Stankoven arrived in Carolina last year.<\/p>\n Now, one of their childhood idols has become the veteran presence in the middle of their friendship.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talk a lot,\u201d Hall said. \u201cWe talk about soccer. They\u2019re great kids. They have a lot of fun playing here.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been really good for me personally,\u201d Hall added, \u201cjust playing with them and getting to know them.\u201d<\/p>\n Blake sees the relationship the same way.<\/p>\n \u201cI love playing with those two,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully we can play together for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n That may be true for Blake and Stankoven. But Hall likely won\u2019t be hanging around for long.<\/p>\n The veteran has played nearly 1,000 NHL games since hearing his name called first overall in 2010. He won a Hart Trophy. He made five All-Star teams. He has played for seven franchises and experienced the highs and lows of professional hockey.<\/p>\n