from Alex Prewitt of Sports Illustrated,

Taylor Hall is picturing a recent memory, unremarkable yet personally momentous. It was early last fall, a couple days into his second Devils training camp. Beneath clear skies and a brilliant sun, Hall was lounging on the outdoor pool deck of his high-rise complex in Jersey City, finally feeling settled after the June 2016 blockbuster that brought him there from Edmonton. His apartment was furnished, his car was registered, his state license obtained … so much life-cluttering “little crap” sorted out. He looked around, digesting the scene. “OK, this is normal,” he thought. “This is home.”

Wounded in the wake of the trade, a one-for-one swap with defenseman Adam Larsson, Hall had spoken with Devils general manager Ray Shero, who likened what Hall would experience leaving the Oilers–the organization that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2009–to the death of a family member.

“I’m giving you one year,” Shero told him. “Then you’ve got to move on.”

Even Hall will admit that the mourning period lasted until that time limit hit triple zeroes, no doubt worsened by New Jersey’s last-place finish and Edmonton’s run to the second round. Relocating was a yearlong adjustment too, since Hall knew almost none of his new teammates and absolutely nothing about the area. Shero looks back and laughs at how long he took to discover the tollbooth magic of EZ Pass.

Then came summer. Between a revamped training regimen and two illuminating meetings–not to mention a trip to Coachella with then-teammate Dalton Prout–Hall returned having rounded a personal corner.

conitnued