Taylor Hall gets brutally honest on being traded to Hurricanes in 3-way deal with Avalanche, Blackhawks

Taylor Hall recently shared his thoughts on being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in a three-team deal. In an interview with The Athletic published on Friday, Hall said he was unhappy with his limited playing time in Chicago as he was only averaging 15 minutes on the ice.

'"My playing time in Chicago, for whatever reason, was not what I would have liked it to be," Hall said. "So I was happy to be traded, and I was happy to come to a really good team that has a culture in place and a structure that I feel fits well with me."

Hall was traded along with Mikko Rantanen as part of a deal with the Avalanche and Blackhawks on Jan. 24. The Hurricanes acquired Hall and Rantanen, while Colorado got Jack Drury, Martin Necas and draft picks. The Blackhawks received a third-round pick for Hall and retained half of Rantanen's salary.

Hall is in the final year of a four-year $24 million contract. He understood the Blackhawks’ decision to focus on younger players but felt he deserved more ice time.

"They’re on a different timeline than my career is, right?" Hall said. "So I get it, I understand it. I wanted to play more. They wanted to play young guys, they wanted to play guys up in the lineup. It was what it was."

Hall had doubts about whether he was in the Blackhawks' plans for the future; however, he loved his time there and expressed respect for them.

"I still have a lot of respect for the people there and I did like being a Blackhawk a lot and loved the city," Hall said. "Just the way it worked out. I don’t know if I was in their plans for the future, and that’s just the way it goes."

Hall received 18:18 minutes of ice time in his second game with the Hurricanes against the New York Rangers on Tuesday but he was scratched in the matchup with the Chicago Blackhawks due to illness.

Has Taylor Hall found his place in the Carolina Hurricanes lineup?

After the trade, Taylor Hall has seemingly found his place with the Hurricanes. In his second game with Carolina, he recorded an assist in a 4-0 win over the New York Rangers. Hall moved to the second line with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Andrei Svechnikov.

Hall helped by contributing a helper and finishing with a +2 rating. His move to the Hurricanes gives him a chance to contribute to a playoff contender.