Sorensen, Nazar, And Foligno Reflect On Taylor Hall Trade

The Chicago Blackhawks traded Taylor Hall as part of the big blockbuster on Friday night. He was only with the team for parts of two seasons but he was an accomplished veteran guy in a young locker room. The respect for him was there.

After Chicago’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, head coach Anders Sorensen, captain Nick Foligno, and Frank Nazar reflected on the trade.

"We have no one else to blame but ourselves really in putting ourselves in the situation where they have to start thinking about the future and selling off." Nick Foligno said of his former teammate Hall. "It’s not a fun feeling for anybody in here."

Foligno has now played with Taylor Hall on two NHL teams. They were teammates with the Boston Bruins before being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks together.

"He's one of my closest friends in the league." Foligno described. "There (are) families involved, friendships. But in the same breath, it's the business."

Nick is bothered by the state of the team with these quotes. As a proud captain, he knows that they put themselves in this position where they are already selling in January.

"I wish Hallsy all the best, he was a great pro for us and a great teammate. He's a great guy and he'll be a good friend for a long time. It's hard, you get to know the family and his little young boy and I'll miss seeing him around. We'll be close for a long time."

After Foligno spoke, it was on Frank Nazar to speak to the media. Despite being with the team for only a short time, he had some nice things to say about Taylor Hall as well.

"Hallsy was great to me." Frank Nazar said of his now-former teammate. "I came in and I started playing with him. He's a very competitive guy. (I'm) happy he's going to be able to play and hopefully make a push. He gave a lot of great advice and had a lot of good things to say so (I'm) just thankful for the opportunity to play with him."

Hall has had that kind of impact on young players for a large portion of his NHL career up to this point. The Hawks are hoping that some of the things that he left with the kids on the team can stick with them through their development.

"He's a good pro" Interim head coach Anders Sorensen said in his postgame presser when asked about Hall being traded away. "Obviously been around the league for a long time, had some good insight in terms of ideas, especially offensively. A really good pro, didn't play as much as he wanted at times maybe but we had good conversations so he was really good about everything."

Sorensen wasn't Hall's coach for very long but he had some good insight on what it was like to have him around at this stage of his career with his quotes. It sounds like Hall made a positive impact.

Now, Hall will have, as Nazar said, a chance to make a push. The Carolina Hurricanes are in a position where they should make the playoffs. By adding both Hall and Mikko Rantanen, they are deeper than they've ever been. If Hall can help that team the way he helped this team on and off the ice, they are better for having him.

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