EWB Best Season: (3) 2017-18 Taylor Hall vs. (30) 2017-18 Mathew Barzal

The next matchup of the Empire Writes Back best season of the 2010’s tournament is between the 3rd overall seed in 2017-18 Taylor Hall and the 30th seed, 2017-18 Mathew Barzal.

We continue the best season of the 2010’s tournament here at Empire Writes Back, and up next is a matchup of impressive seasons on the ice as (3) 2017-18 Taylor Hall takes on (30) 2017-18 Mathew Barzal.

First, let’s take a look at the season that Barzal had with the New York Islanders this past year.

The 2017-18 season was Barzal’s first in the NHL, though he did play a couple of games for the Islanders at the beginning of the 2016-17 season.

Despite the fact that Barzal was just 20 years old entering 2017-18, he took the NHL by storm during his rookie year.He scored 22 goals and added 63 assists to total 85 points in a full 82 games for the Islanders. He also had a 42.6 face-off percentage in 834 total face-offs, and a +/- of 1.Barzal was voted as the winner of the Calder Trophy at the end of the season, which is given to the most outstanding rookie in the NHL.

Sometimes a rookie will win their respective rookie of the year trophies but not have an extremely impressive year; they’re just better than any other rookies that played in that particular season.

This isn’t the case with Barzal, however. He averaged over a point per game in his rookie season, which is something that is highly impressive for even a seasoned veteran.

Speaking of seasoned veterans, the season that Taylor Hall put together for the New Jersey Devils last year was flat out dominant.

Hall scored 39 goals to go along with 54 assists to total 93 points in 76 games for the Devils during the 2017-18 campaign. He also had a 14 +/- and a face-off percentage of 48.6 in 178 attempts. The most impressive and memorable part of Hall’s season was his 26 game point streak. This streak helped will the Devils into the playoffs.

It also helped propel him to be voted as the winner of the Hart Trophy, which is the NHL’s award for the most valuable player in a season.

While Barzal’s rookie season was very impressive, especially for a rookie, Hall is the clear winner of this matchup. The fact that he was the almost the sole reason the Devils made the playoff to go along with his 26 point streak was the difference for me in this one.

Do you agree with me? Or do you feel as if Barzal should win this matchup? Either way, make sure you visit our Twitter, @empirewritesbck, and go vote on the poll that corresponds to this post.

You can also check out past posts and other articles from the other incredible contributors and site experts here at Empire Writes Back.

Be sure to be on the lookout for future matchups in this tournament as well, with the next one being released every morning throughout the tournament.