Well, I guess the good news is that this isn't really news at all. Seeing as I just want to put my feet up and silently enjoy the rest of the weekend, it would truly be awful if I had to go about the same old song and dance in explaining how Taylor Hall, at times singlehandedly, altered the weather forecast during the time of year in which dreariness had come to be expected by those associated with the Devils. Honestly, the last thing I wanted to do is remind everyone that it was his dominance that helped ease the indoctrination of two of NHL's three youngest players into first line roles for a competitive team, so thank god this nomination was basically written in the consistency with which he was one of the 'Three Stars'. I think every hockey fan already knows how impressive a 26-game point streak is, so prattling on and on about how it put Taylor Hall in both exclusive and historic company would have really been overkill. Could you even imagine how annoying it would have been of me to go back to the game logs to confirm that his 9-game point streak, that came pretty damn close to the heels of the previous one, featured multiple game-winning goals and almost directly coincided with the Devils clinching a playoff spot for the first time in six years? Man, I'd hate myself for turning into that much of a fanboy, so I'm breathing quite the sigh of relief that I don't have to point out that if there were a hypothetical person in the lineup that made up the difference between Taylor Hall's point total and that of his next closest teammate then that person would be the leading scorer on any Devils' line other that wasn't Number 9's. An individual season that is arguably the best ever by a member of a storied franchise with three championships and a fistful of Finals appearances under its belt speaks for itself, and therefore I don't have to pick apart the definition of "value" on its behalf... I just wanted to for the fuck of it. In all seriousness, I'm not sure Taylor Hall will win MVP. With all due respect to Anze Kopitar, I imagine it'll basically come down to the flip of a coin between the Devils' Hart-and-soul and Nathan MacKinnon, and - while the failing of tails would leave me disappointed - cooler heads say both are more than deserving. That said, the fact that Taylor Hall's status as a finalist was all-but-finalized well before the season finale tells you everything you need to know about how valuable he was to a team that rode his coattails a lot more often than he'd ever admit. During a year in which there were more people in the Hart Trophy conversation than ever before, a New Jersey Devils' forward made it so that he absolutely could not be excluded. The only surprising part about that is that it somehow stopped being surprising awhile ago.
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