OverDrive - Hall on the Stanley Cup win, the team's journey and the structure of Carolina's roster

Episode Date: June 19, 2026

Carolina Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall joined OverDrive to discuss winning the Stanley Cup, the team's celebrations for the triumph, behind-the-scenes on the championship run, scoring in the Stanley Cup Final, the road in his career and more.

Catch everything soccer with Bell's game time bundle. Get 5 TV with TSN plus 5150 internet, all for $99 a month. Price guaranteed for two years with a two-year internet and TV term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for more details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. He just won it with the Carolina Hurricanes. Here's Taylor Hall joining us on overdrive. Taylor's a cup anywhere close to you right now.

Yeah, it's about 30 feet away. I'm at Jordan Stalls right now. and we're having a little pool party with the family and friends. It's been an awesome day. Okay. How's the Marty party doing over there? Is he hanging in with you guys? Yeah, the Marty party's good.

He's the life of the party always. And you always need one of those guys, right? Oh, yeah. Absolutely, Taylor. Is he basically the prank, the tank of the group? Is he the guy? I mean, he's the guy that. always down to keep it going and he's always the party planner as well so like I said you need

one of those guys in your crew and right when I got traded here last year Marty was the first guy realized that you know it was one of the the culture guys here and someone that would be would be cool to be friends with so he's one of the guys that uh among many that I'm super happy for here So I can see over your right shoulder there There's a bunch of booze back there Like what is Yeah There's some booze in your hand right now

Like take us through the last 48, 72 hours Obviously you're still cooking down there Like what how many how many core memories have you made Over the last three days that you can remember Yeah I mean There's been a few things I would say So we went golfing in the mountains of

Carolina. Just hold on a sec. I got to pause this movie that's going on here. There's kids here too, so. Okay. All right, we're good. Yeah, no, there's been a few. I mean, just being around the Stanley Cup, anytime it comes into the room, anytime you're around it,

probably the coolest thing is seeing people's on their face when you bring it into a random bar or restaurant, you know, especially here in Raleigh, so I don't think it's ever going to get old. I've seen some reports that the cup has taken a beating the last couple of days.

Can you confirm or deny that it's in one piece? Is it dented? Like, how's it looking? From what I understand there, there was a staff member that kind of dropped it right after the game. There wasn't any of the boys, I'll tell you that. You can ask Phil. I think we've been pretty respectful of it. but I don't really know

I think this is the party Stanley Cup I think this one is you know if it does get dented a little bit it's not the worst not the worst thing that happened but we can't bring it in the water we can't really have it get wet so that's something I didn't know before having this thing so Taylor take us through

you come into Carolina and kind of what's the difference in the other stops that you had as far as maybe system playing or having to buy into what Rod Brindamore was selling as a coach and an organization. Yeah, I mean, the style of play is one thing. A lot of detail in this system and the way we play on both sides of the ice. I mean, I would say there's as much detail on the offensive side of things as there is on the defensive side. Like, you know, everyone likes to make us out to be a defensive team, but, you know, we had the second most goals in the league last.

year we we've really worked on that you know side of things and I think there's been a freedom uh and how we're able to play offensively and off the rush like you know I've been other places where you get you know you get yelled at for mistakes offensively more than here um and then I would just you know there's off the ice has been a really cool experience obviously there's there's some really good players here but a ton of good people you know led by roddy and and its coaching staff in the organization. And, you know, you never know what a place is going to be like until you get somewhere, but it's been, it's been incredible, obviously.

And for us to, you know, take a step last year and make the conference finals and then, you know, ultimately finish the goal this year. It's been, it's been so much fun and really a dream come true. Taylor, that group that's been there for a while now, they've also, you know, they've had some tough playoff losses. Did you always get the sense that this group was just poised and they were going to find a way to get over it or did you sense any frustration? Like, how was the mindset of the group when you first walked into that room?

There was some frustration and I got the sense that, you know, it's great to have a nice regular season and get 100 points and win your division. But ultimately, if we couldn't get over that conference final hump, I don't think that the season would be looked at as a success. so there was that kind of anxiety, especially when we lost that first game in the conference finals against Montreal. We were all just kind of, you know, a little bit pissed off at how that went. And I think that was just rust overall.

And once we got over that conference final, you know, once we got that and we were in the Stanley Cup final, I think we were all just, you know, super excited to hopefully take that step. and it was a great series for us. I just watched the replay of the series last night. It really could have went either way in so many of those games. And I imagine as a fan, it was pretty awesome to watch. It was an incredible cup final. When you say you rewatched it, like, what do you mean by that?

Like, how condensed was the whole thing? How many hours did it take you? No, I mean, there's like a 40-minute replay on YouTube with all the goals and whatnot. so, yeah, there was like, you know, we could have won that first game, they could have won the second game. We could easily won that third game. The fourth game was a one-gold game as well. And just there's, you look at any series,

I guess you could make the case that that would happen. Freddie, do you mind turn that down for me? Thanks. I don't even know what movie. There's like a family movie on here in the background. for some kids that are here. Priorities. Well, yeah,

but, yeah, no, I mean, I've been consuming all the content I can on our Stanley Cup win, honestly, so before bed every night, I usually watch a show or whatever,

and now I've just been watching YouTube highlights of baseball playoff run. Well, that's amazing. We're chatting with Taylor Hall. How about your own performance? You know, I guess,

take us through the goal in game six I mean ultimately you end up scoring the Stanley Cup winning goal he gets 1-3-0 it looked like he let I think it was before you scored you got hurt or something it looked like you were kind of getting to the bench like you're holding your shoulder or something but have you like take us through that goal

and I'm sure you've watched it clearly and what do you make of it I was kind of cheating a little bit I was hanging back a tad our two fours did a really good job of cutting their their rush off at the blue line.

And then Slavo Slavo is an underrated passer. And as the playoffs went on, in the regular season, I wouldn't play a whole lot with Jacob Slavin because how we match lines. They were always matched up against the top

guys and our line was not. But as the playoffs went on, on the road, you really couldn't control matchups. So I started playing with him more and more and realized that, like, if he gets the puck on a stick, he can make a play. He can make a long pass. He can make a stretch pass.

So I, you know, I read that. And my dad was kind of on me as the series went on to have a bit of a quicker release, get my shots off as fast as I could. And I had a few point blanks on Carter Hart. And that one I managed to get off, I think, pretty quick. So you were, you were. So, yeah, I mean, yeah, it was a, it was a great. I mean, I'm super happy that that was the game winner,

but the job wasn't really finished there. It was a complete effort by our whole team as the game went on. And that third period, I thought, was a real, like, you know, kind of defensive clinic on how to, you know, not give them any momentum. Father's Day this Sunday, I'm sure your dad, one of the happiest guys in the world. He said he was giving you pointers throughout, you know, the cup final throughout the playoffs.

Has that been consistent throughout your career? Like how often do you check in with your dad and does he give you feedback on how you're playing? I mean, yeah, we talk on the phone before every single game. And after every game, I would say 30 minutes after, there's a short text on, you know, a couple thoughts of his. And, you know, when you win one of these, those are special things for not only you,

but your family and people that have contributed to everything that you're doing. and maybe none more so for me than him. You know, my wife and my mom and people that help us out a lot, her parents are all kind of, you know, really involved in this. But yeah, my dad, it's been pretty cool to share this with him the last week. You did a lot of winning prior to your NHL career starting, two OHL championships, two Memorial Cup championships. Was it as hard as you thought to win a Stanley Cup?

Yeah, yeah, I mean, it was definitely hard. The joy that you feel afterwards is nothing like I've ever felt before. So, yeah, it was hard. That last series was very difficult for us. I thought we made it look, you know, a little bit easy at times, but it wasn't. It took every single guy in our team, like, that's kind of the cool part of this, is when you look back on the games and you kind of watch the replays and the highlights, again, you see plays that guys made that, you know, really contributed to this whole thing.

And it's so cool to see. And it's going to be, you know, awesome to celebrate here. So, Taylor, it's a long ways away from, you know, your start in Edmonton and having a mentor in Jason Strudwick, having passes like that come to your stick. And you just laid out slave in passing puck. So I'm sure things have come full circle for you in Big Strud. Yeah, I mean, I had a nice visit with him this year when we played in Edmonton. He's a great guy.

That whole family is awesome. Yeah, I mean, I got some of the worst passes I've ever gotten from him, right? So if you can, they always say you can't, you know, a good player will take any pass. And I think that that really led me to this point. but no i mean strutty i always laugh he always says he's a multi multi goal scorer you know

multi year multi goal scorer yeah that's valid one of the best and probably one of the only few guys in the world that's that have won more memorial cups than you too i think i mean strut i think had three of them i believe in his career that's tough to beat man

he was three yeah i think he got three i think he might have got it I think Darcy, him and Darcy Tucker, they always talk about it. And Nashra, I think, had three, too, I think. Who knows. Yeah, they had a lot out there. From Strudwick to Slavin. What a career.

What a run. Congrats, Taylor. We can't thank you enough. Get back to the party. And we'll do it again down the road. Thank you for this. All right. Thanks, guys.

You got it. There's Taylor Hall. The newest tracks. Let's go. New music. And the next big thing. Always on the new music first. Your first place to hear it all.

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