Ryan: An unconventional netfront option, Taylor Hall could be missing weapon on already lethal Bruins power play

When operating at full strength, the Bruins’ top power-play unit is a sight to behold. 

Operating at the blue line, Charlie McAvoy is the last line of defense for pucks skittering out of the zone — always at the ready to recover a loose biscuit and feed it back in Grade-A ice, or uncork a howitzer from the point. 

Situated at the half wall, Brad Marchand is on the prowl for cracks in a PK unit’s armor — searching for passing lines for which to send pucks through to a lurking David Pastrnak in his usual spot over at the left circle. 

And at the bumper, Patrice Bergeron serves as the maestro in the middle of the madness — either stuffing home rebounds in the slot or redirecting errant feeds to keep the pressure up against the opposition. 

Each player with a defined role — and each very, very deadly in special-teams situations. 

And yet for as fearsome as that foursome can be, the offense generated by that unit in the early goings of the 2021 season came from another source — down at the netfront role in the form of Nick Ritchie. 

Boston’s PP1 unit has had plenty of fixtures in place for years now, but the netfront role has been more of a revolving door — with Jake DeBrusk earning a healthy amount of looks before the bulkier Ritchie secured the gig out of camp last year. 

And in the early going last year, the power forward’s impact down low paid dividends — tallying four power-play goals and added a pair of 5v4 helpers through his first eight games thanks to his touch around the net and his propensity to create havoc while planted near the blue ice. 

Utilizing a player of Ritchie’s style and frame sure makes plenty of sense as a netfront option, especially as a complement to the already tangible production generated by the rest of that potent power-play crew.

But with Ritchie now up in Toronto, the Bruins appear to be switching gears when it comes to charting out the expectations of that netfront role. 

Because Taylor Hall is a player of many talents, no doubt. But brawn isn’t exactly one of them. 

"I'm not 230 (pounds),” Hall said postgame following Boston’s preseason win over the Flyers on Thursday. “I'm not going to be a guy that just stands and screens the whole time. I don't think that really plays to my strengths. …  I don't think I'm going to be Nick Richie, I think it'll be something different than that and hopefully we have some success.”

Hall — measuring out at 6-foot-1 and 207 pounds — is certainly not a tweener out there on the ice. But be it even-strength play or on special teams, his strengths are vastly different from Ritchie’s repertoire. But from the Bruins’ perspective, Hall’s tools very well might be the missing piece on an already imposing PP1 unit.

Through the early days of training camp, the Bruins regularly rolled out a top power-play unit with Nick Foligno serving in the netfront role. It was far from a surprise, given Foligno’s knack for scrapping down low. 

But from Bruce Cassidy’s perspective, an ideal netfront contributor on Boston’s PP1 unit is not just a spare piece responsible for screening goalies and picking up the scraps down low. Given the firepower present along the half wall, in the bumper and up on the offensive blue line, it’s puck recovery that’s often emphasized by Boston’s bench boss — with the fifth wheel of that special-teams vehicle tasked with keeping possessions alive and feeding the puck back out to the likes of Bergeron, Marchand and others. 

“One of the big things we look for in that position is puck recovery, because usually when the shot comes — that guy at the net front is closest,” Cassidy explained. “Assuming it's not an off-net shot that goes around the half wall, he's the closest to the puck. So when we can recover those pucks and then break teams down from A - fatigue and B - being out of position, that's really important.”

Given that sentiment, it shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise that Hall was handed the keys to the netfront as camp progressed. From a pure optics standpoint, it’s already intimidating enough for the opposition to see a player of Hall’s talent already added to an uber-skilled special-teams crew. 

But with Hall’s wheels utilized down low, the Bruins have a weapon added to the mix that can slip out of the netfront spot with ease, recover skittering pucks behind the goal line and feed them back out to another black-and-gold sweater before a PKer can snag it for an attempted clear. 

Hall’s speed already plays a key component in his transition game — both in terms of quick-strike offense and zone entries. But his ability to turn on the afterburners in the O-zone played a key role in why that Hall-Krejci-Smith line was regularly a cheat code at 5v5 play last year — negating what seemed like routine clears for opponents by beating them in foot races for the puck. 

As such, translating that skill to the power play sure seems like an easy call for the Bruins. And it worked out awfully well on Thursday night — with Hall supporting Bergeron on a puck battle along the boards before eventually slapping the biscuit across the slot to a waiting Marchand, who promptly snapped it past Martin Jones for the tally. 

For Hall, the netfront is a bit of a different role from his usual spot on the man advantage — as he regularly played on his forehand side in New Jersey, especially during that Hart Trophy campaign in 2017-18 in which he racked up 37 power-play points. However, for as much as each cog on Boston’s power-play unit might have a defined role, the organic nature in which that crew generates chances does give Hall the freedom to do more than plant himself down in Grade-A ice. 

“My first few years in the league, I played that goal-line position,” Hall said. “My second year in the league, I I had a lot of power-play goals just in that spot where (Ryan) Nugent-Hopkins was on the half wall and we had some success there. As I got older in Jersey — the way our unit worked, we had Brian Boyle in front, I played the flank. (Kyle) Palmieri was on the other side with his strong side.

"But you can play anywhere. You've seen that group in the past, they just move around, they make plays — whoever's open, whoever really has a chance to shoot and make a play. That's how it's going to work. So I'm not really too concerned with where my spot is. I want to be open wherever I can and tonight was a good start."

Does Hall fit the mold of some more conventional netfront options on a power-play unit? Perhaps not. 

But, much like their revamped D corps, the Bruins aren't harping all that much on conventionality — not if the end result is more pucks sailing into twine.