Be forewarned, the following is NSFW if you root for the Devils. I'm not sure if it's best classified as erotica, but you're going to feel some feeling that might have you going hard while watching what amounts to soft-core porn for fans of New Jersey's finest. Hopefully you're working from home during this blizzard, because this is best viewed behind the privacy of closed doors...
What a difference a year makes. The 26 (and counting, Lord Stanley willing) game point streak has forced the conversation, but the transformation of Taylor Hall's reputation would be a hell of a talking point regardless of his steady climb amongst historical company. From getting condemned for your lack of leadership and scapegoated as Patient Zero for the losing culture that - wouldn't you know it - still plagues the Edmonton Oilers to having the legendary leader of a franchise that was damn close to being a dynasty offer to lower his number from the rafters on your behalf. Have Drake put together the score for what's legitimately become a cinematic story line that most of Canada can get behind, because only in movies do you start from the bottom and get here this quickly. Now obviously, the proposal to take the number '4' from New Jersey Devils' lore and place it on the heavily weighted back of someone who is leading their resurgence in more ways than just scoring was one that was halfheartedly made in jest. However, since there has never been anything comedic about the times in which Scott Stevens has stood up, anything said prior to his rare attempt at humor was far more sincere than any set-up. I'm pretty sure it took two decades of appreciating Patrik Elias for someone who's almost as difficult to impress as he was to intimidate to admit that even the most gifted forward is anything more than a moving target, so the praise he just heaped on Taylor Hall is no laughing matter. Simply put, this isn't your "average" endorsement from a former player whose career now makes a home out of the 'Hall Of Fame'. If you meet Scott Stevens' standards of maturity, versatility, leadership, courage, and toughness then not only do those traits undeniably represent you, but you undeniably represent those traits. So, how can you not consider Taylor Hall in contention for the Hart Trophy when the most dominant defensive presence of a generation who exemplified heart and was the first to raise no shortage of trophies just waxed poetic about him in a way that leaves every Devils' fan in need of some alone time? Hell, even if you find other candidates just as deserving, the last person I'd want to argue stats and semantics with while determining the definition of 'value' is the coldblooded bad ass that made the absolute most out of his. Right, Scotty?
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