Taylor Hall's 22 year old season was one for the books. He finished the year 7th in League scoring with 27-53-80 in 75 games, his 2nd year in the top 10 for NHL scoring. The Oilers may have been terrible, but their best player wasn't the problem.
Taylor Hall already has the distinction of being the highest scoring player from the Draft he was taken 1st Overall in, clearing 2nd place Tyler Seguin by 20 points already. He's a fearless skater with a keen eye for the offensive play. Indeed his playmaking ability is his most underrated feature as an offensive player. He was drafted with goal scoring in mind, but while it hasn't been lacking, it turns out his ability to create havoc in the offensive zone creates golden opportunities for his linemates at least as often as it creates them for him.
If we look at the past 20 years there have been 19 players who scored more than a point per game over at least 60 games played in their 22 year old season and Taylor Hall is
right in the middle in terms of points per game. He outpaced the seasons of Joe Thornton, Patrick Kane, and Ryan Getzlaf at the same age. The sky is still the limit for the Left Winger.
This is especially true as his linemates continue to develop and his team continues to get stronger. The Oilers spent most of their time in the defensive zone and were not a strong Power Play team. Taylor Hall's success was driven largely by his even strength numbers. In just Even Strength points he was 4th in the NHL (62) and only 4 points off of the leader Sidney Crosby. It is possible that new PP coach Craig Ramsay can raise the effectiveness of the special teams and Taylor Hall can add a not insignificant amount of points that way.
Additionally there can be an argument made that a finally completely healthy Nugent-Hopkins is also ready to take another step as Hall's centerman and this will also impact scoring. Hall has always had Eberle as his scoring counterpoint on the Oilers but his C has struggled to keep up at times. I'm a big RNH fan but shoulder surgery limited his play and his training ability until this year in which he should be fully healed and prepared for the coming season.
Beyond RNH, the team added two more NHL calibre Defensemen who should help keep the play out of their own and inside the attacking zone. If Corsi is a proxy for offensive zone time, which the evidence suggests it is, then as the team improves the Oilers and Taylor Hall will be spending more time attacking. This should also potentially improve the number of scoring chances.
Whether or not any of those improvements actually occur, Taylor Hall's last season was special and he stands to build on it. The young Oiler winger is one of the NHL's elite talents and in my opinion the best LW in the game today at just 22 years old. The last few years he has been scoring almost in spite of his team, but this year looks to be different.
What is the upper limit for this young man? I honestly don't know.
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Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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