from Andrew Berkshire of Sportsnet,
Taylor Hall is scorching hot right now. Since the calendar turned to 2018, only Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby have more than Hall’s 33 points in 23 games, and there hasn’t been a single one of those games in which he’s failed to record a point. That streak is one of the most impressive in the modern era.
The streak has propelled Hall into the Hart Trophy conversation, not just because he’s now 12th in the NHL in points, but also because he has been involved in 37.1 per cent of the goals the New Jersey Devils have scored this season. That’s the fifth-best mark in the league after Connor McDavid, Johnny Gaudreau, Claude Giroux, and Anze Kopitar.
Bolstering Hall’s case is the fact that no player leading their team in scoring has as big of a gap between them and the second place scorer on their team than does Hall, who has 28 more points than rookie Nico Hischier — not to mention he has more than twice as many points as third place Jesper Bratt.
Those numbers alone would put a player in conversation for the Hart Trophy, but it’s easy to be in consideration for the award in the midst of a hot streak.
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