from Tara Sullivan of the Boston Globe,

Taylor Hall came to Boston with a fascinating addendum to one of NHL’s most impressive résumés. He came with honesty. And candor. The kind of honesty and candor rarely acknowledged by athletes of Hall’s caliber — ones who trade as much on inner belief as their skills at skating, scoring, shooting or passing.

“I’m not the most confident hockey player right now,” Hall acknowledged in his introductory Zoom call, back on April 12. “Throughout this year, there have been a lot of struggles, and obviously goal scoring has been one of them. I have to find that part of my game back.”

In revealing how much he had struggled across a 37-game tenure in Buffalo, in sharing how much it wore on him to know his paltry two goals were so far away from his Hart Trophy-winning season in 2017-18, Hall spoke to how much he needed a change of scenery. In doing his part to make sure that change would happen in Boston, he also spoke to the growing role athletes themselves are playing in determining their future.

And there is no arguing he made the right call.

It’s hard to imagine the union going any better.

Hall, slipping into place on the Bruins’ second line alongside David Krejci and Craig Smith, quickly found “that part of his game,” scoring eight goals in 16 regular-season games and adding two more in the opening playoff series win against Washington. And the Bruins are the happy beneficiaries of his awakening, heading into Saturday night’s Game 4 against the Islanders with a 2-1 advantage in their second-round series.

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