Can Taylor Hall avoid the sophomore slump? Recent history says he can

Taylor Hall’s rookie season in the NHL was, by most accounts, a solid one that ended prematurely. After suffering a season-ending ankle injury in early March while fighting with Derek Dorsett, Hall’s season finished with 22 goals and 20 assists in 65 games. For an 18 year-old kid to jump into the league and instantly produce like that, even on the NHL’s worst team, is outstanding.

The question that always comes up for rookies, however, is whether or not they can do it all over again or better the following season. The dreaded “sophomore slump” always lingers out there for many second-year players, and should that bug end up biting Hall it’d be a stunning blow for a team that needs all of their talented youth to continue improving and becoming elite stars in the league. Hall tells NHL.com that the stats mean only so much when focusing on the big picture of his game.

“Stats, you can only look so much into them, I think. If I start to worry about how many goals I have after ten games or how many points I have, that’s going to take away from other parts of my game,” said Hall. “There are a lot of guys on our team who are team-first and I hope I’m one of them. You just need to think about the team and how you’re helping that.”

That’s all well and good for Hall to have that kind of personal focus, but if he’s not producing well, the questions are going to come and the fretting will start in Edmonton. The one thing going for Hall is that #1 picks since 2000 have done well in their second season. Well, mostly.

• 2000 - Rick DiPietro (NYI): 2000-2001: 3-15-1, 3.49 GAA, .878 SV%; 2001-2002: Stayed in AHL
• 2001 - Ilya Kovalchuk (ATL): 2001-2002: 65 GP, 29g, 22a, 51 pts; 2002-2003: 81 GP, 38g, 29a, 67 pts
• 2002 - Rick Nash (CBJ): 2002-2003: 74 GP, 17g, 22a, 39 pts; 2003-2004: 80 GP, 41g, 16a, 57 pts (tied for Richard Trophy with Iginla, Kovalchuk)
• 2003 - Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT): 2003-2004: 4-14-2, 3.64 GAA, .896 SV%; 2005-2006: 13-27-6, 3.25 GAA, .898 SV%
• 2004 - Alexander Ovechkin (WAS): 2005-2006: 81 GP, 52g, 54a, 106 pts; 2006-2007: 82 GP, 46g, 46a, 92 PTS (Calder Trophy winner in 2006)
• 2005 - Sidney Crosby (PIT): 2005-2006: 81 GP, 39g, 63a, 102 pts; 2006-2007: 79 GP, 36g, 84a, 120 pts (Crosby won Art Ross and Hart Trophy in 2007)
• 2006 - Erik Johnson (STL): 2007-2008: 69 GP, 5g, 28a, 33 pts; 2008-2009: 79 GP, 10g, 29a, 39 pts
• 2007 - Patrick Kane (CHI): 2007-2008: 82 GP, 21g, 51a, 72 pts; 2008-2009: 80 GP, 25g, 45a, 70 pts (Won Calder Trophy in 2008)
• 2008 - Steven Stamkos (TB): 2008-2009: 79 GP, 23g, 23a, 46 pts; 2009-2010: 82 GP, 51g, 44a, 95 pts (Tied for 2010 Richard Trophy with Sidney Crosby)
• 2009 - John Tavares (NYI): 2009-2010: 82 GP, 24g, 30a, 54 pts; 2010-2011: 79 GP, 29g, 38a, 67 pts

I know... “Ha, ha Rick DiPietro!” Settle down. After a rough rookie year he got to play a full season in Bridgeport while Chris Osgood and Garth Snow got the Islanders to the playoffs. Things haven’t gone so hot with injuries since then. Fleury struggled in his second season and didn’t find his way until his third season in the NHL. Erik Johnson’s had his struggles since breaking into the NHL but with a full year ahead of him in Colorado, we’ll see how he adjusts to the new location.

Everyone else though, and more importantly all the other forwards, all improved or stayed great in their follow up season. Crosby won the MVP, Nash won the Richard Trophy, Kovalchuk became Atlanta’s sole, dominating source for goals, and Steve Stamkos became a full-on phenomenon.

A guy like John Tavares who is in a similar position as Hall is in Edmonton improved his play all around in his second season and for Hall, despite playing a different position (wing compared to center) the Oilers will hope he’ll be able to grow the same way.