Hall Or Nash?

[DitchMarner]

Taylor Hall:

Hart Trophy in 2018


Rick Nash:

Rocket Richard Trophy in 2004

Click to read more...

 

[ESH]

Nash never reached the heights that Hall did, but he was certainly a more consistent scorer year to year, while also being a good PKer and reliable defensive winger.

 

[biturbo19]

Nash at his peak was the better player. I think there's an argument that Hall may have had the "better career". Part of it comes down whether you value one of the "weakest" Hart wins over a Rocket Richard in a pretty tough field. Typically, i'd lean Hart > Rocket. But in this case, i think it's more debatable.

The other aspect is that i think Nash was the bigger, better, more responsible player...and has some bigger international accolades to his name, particularly as a standout on a Gold Medal Olympic team. He was also more consistent throughout, while playing on some bad teams without a lot of help most of the time through his prime.

However, there's also the argument that Hall played more "meaningful" NHL games. Though to me, that's really more of a "team argument" rather than anything to do with the player.



So on balance, i go with Rick Nash. But i can at least see the argument for why someone might plausibly go with Taylor Hall.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Nash better overall, Hall had that one fluke season that was better than any Nash has had

 

[DitchMarner]

Nash at his peak was the better player. I think there's an argument that Hall may have had the "better career". Part of it comes down whether you value one of the "weakest" Hart wins over a Rocket Richard in a pretty tough field. Typically, i'd lean Hart > Rocket. But in this case, i think it's more debatable.

That's an interesting take. I generally think of Nash's Rocket Richard win (that he shared with Kovalchuk and Iginla) as a weak one. In fact, in that recent Rocket Richard winners tournament, I specifically called it weak.

I don't know... did he really beat great competition? Ovechkin and Stamkos weren't in the League yet, and he tied Iginla and Kovalchuk. A goal total of 41 also isn't that impressive, although '04 is one of the lowest scoring seasons of all-time.

In contrast, I think Hall's Hart win is quite solid. That season is definitely an outlier in his career, but even if you think he shouldn't have won the Hart, I do think it's better than any season Nash had. People rave about MacKinnon's 2018 season, but he only had four more assists than Hall (with the same number of goals) playing with better offensive players.

So I think Hall has the best single season between them (and maybe his best two or three seasons are better than Nash's best two or three), but Nash was more consistent in terms of productivity year-to-year during his prime and a better goal scorer. They both dropped off offensively at age 31.

Playoff play is a weak point for Nash, but Hall doesn't exactly have a legendary playoff career himself.

 

[McPoyle]

Hall probably had the best single season between the two. But I think Nash was the better overall player with the better overall career.

 

[dirtydanglez]

near equal as players but nash the better career.

 

[Ezpz]

Great tag team. Hall was more charismatic and a better wrestler but Nash was taller and more successful.

Oh wrong forum. Nash career Hall peak.

 

[Voight]

Hall hasn't played that many playoff games, but Nash is one of the worst playoff performers ins recent history (relative to regular season production)