Blackhawks' Taylor Hall Picks Up Play, Moves Up Trade Board

With five goals and eight points in his last 10 games, Taylor Hall has elevated himself back into trade candidate territory, with the former Hart Trophy winner vaulting to #12 on the newly released Trade Board by Chris Johnson in The Athletic.

A pending unrestricted free agent, Hall is wrapping up his four-year, $6M AAV deal this season with the Chicago Blackhawks. After a torn ACL ended his season after only 10 games last year, Hall got off to a slow start this season with only two goals and six points in his first 20 games.

A healthy scratch back in mid-November took him by surprise and raised eyebrows around the league. But his recent play has put him back on teams' radars.

Hall just turned 33 a few weeks back (right around the time of his healthy scratch), but he's taken it as a call to arms, and has picked up his play with four points in his last four games.

Here's the Taylor Hall goal. Just a hard-working shift for Hall, and it pays off. #Blackhawks https://t.co/OKNJQKiOyl
— Gail Kauchak (@littlegailk) December 15, 2024

Hall does have a 10-team no-trade clause, and he doesn't really want to leave Chicago, so that could lead to some interesting internal conversations. The Blackhawks, of course, are spiraling towards another woeful finish at the bottom of the NHL standings (tied for last overall currently) and looking at another elite lottery pick. Trading Hall could only help that cause and makes perfect sense.

He's been a solid playoff performer, as recently as two seasons ago in Boston, so contenders will definitely have interest in adding Hall as a top-nine secondary scoring piece.