Taylor Hall and Seth Jones started 2025 as teammates on a Chicago Blackhawks team mired in a multiyear rebuild and sitting at the bottom of the NHL standings.
Now they’re squaring off for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Carolina Hurricanes traded for Hall in January, while the Florida Panthers acquired Jones ahead of the March trade deadline. Their new teams — Hall with a perennial playoff team, Jones with the reigning Stanley Cup champion — have taken them on a postseason run that now includes a reunion in the Eastern Conference finals with Game 2 on Thursday night in Raleigh, N.C.
“It’s not something that we ever talked about really,” Hall said. “I didn’t know if he’d be traded. I knew I would probably get dealt at some point.
“But just where we were — being at the bottom of the standings, being on a team, an organization, that the pressure to win wasn’t really there overall — to where we are now, speaking for him, I’m sure he’s excited. And so am I.”
Hall, a 33-year-old forward, is in his 15th NHL season. He’s a former No. 1 draft pick (2010) and Hart Trophy winner (2018) as league MVP.
Jones, a 30-year-old defenseman, is in his 12th NHL season. The five-time All-Star was the No. 4 pick in 2013.
Before this year, Hall and Jones had each won only two postseason series, one being a shortened 2020 qualifier series amid the pandemic. They’ve matched that now with the Hurricanes and Panthers winning two rounds to set up this rematch of the 2023 conference finals won by the Panthers.
It’s quite a turn from months earlier with the Hawks, who have only one playoff appearance (2020) in the last eight seasons.
The Hawks acquired Jones from the Columbus Blue Jackets in July 2021, then acquired Hall from the Boston Bruins in June 2023 amid what has become a nadir for the Original Six franchise. From the 2021-22 to 2023-24 seasons, the Hawks ranked last among the 32 NHL teams in points (179) and point percentage (.364), next-to-last in wins (77 in 246 games) and last in goals scored (593), according to Sportradar.
As New Year’s Day arrived this year, they were last in the league with 26 points and a .342 point percentage amid a rebuild centered around 2023 No. 1 pick Connor Bedard. That made both Hall and Jones appealing to contenders seeking help.
“It was just a timeline of that organization, and nothing against them — I think they’re going to be very successful in the future,” Jones said. “And they wanted to build from the ground up, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
“But in the case of me and Taylor, we were obviously pretty close there in Chicago, kind of in the same situation. So we just wanted to give ourselves an opportunity to play on a contending team, to win a Cup, just to have that feeling of playing important games.”
Hall joined the Hurricanes in the three-team January blockbuster that brought Mikko Rantanen to Carolina for a brief stay that ended at the deadline. Hall was making $6 million with free agency looming but signed a three-year, $9.5 million extension through 2027-28 in April.
A fixture on the Hurricanes’ second line, Hall had two goals and four assists in 11 postseason games entering Thursday. His first goal started Carolina’s comeback from a 3-0 deficit to win the clinching Game 5 in the first round against the New Jersey Devils. His second was a third-period breakaway in a Game 4 win against the top-seeded Washington Capitals in Round 2.
“Winning it all is amazing, but it’s a ride too,” said Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal, a Cup winner with the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins. “It’s so enjoyable to just go day to day battling with your buddies. There’s something about that that gives me chills every time I talk about it and gets you excited. I’m sure Hallsy’s feeling that and excited about the future here and how it’s all going to play out.”
The Panthers acquired Jones, who is under contract through 2030, in March for another title push. Through the series opener, he had three goals and three assists in the postseason while joining Gustav Forsling at plus-7 to lead Florida defensemen.
Jones came through with a key first-period play in Tuesday’s 5-2 win, poking away Shayne Gostisbehere’s pass to deny Carolina a prime chance. It was a glimpse of how general manager Bill Zito’s work is paying off in the Panthers’ third straight conference finals appearance.
“The game actually simplifies in the playoffs more than it expands,” coach Paul Maurice said. “Teams get to the bare bones of what they do and they just do it over and over again. So he’s getting cleaner reps and reads on the way up the ice, and I think that’s helped him an awful lot.”