It's hard to believe it's been 11 years since Taylor Hall was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
If you ask him, though, he thought he'd go at No. 2 to the Boston Bruins due to the all the cameras around Tyler Seguin.
Hall, who signed a four-year contract to remain with the Bruins on Friday, met with the media after the deal became official and reflected on that fateful night.
"Incredible night for me and my family. Los Angeles, June 25. I had a lot of uncertainty, I could have ended up in Boston," Hall said over Zoom. "I ended up going number one. If I remember correctly, there was about 30 cameras on Tyler Seguin and about seven on me. I was like, 'Oh, I guess I'm going number two.' Sure enough, I went number one and our careers have kind of gone different ways. He won a Stanley Cup his first year, it took me eight years to make the playoffs. It's always interesting."
He also provided some advice to the Bruins' incoming draft picks:
"Players that are coming into the Bruins organization, put your head down and work hard and work smart and come into camp and be a pro. I think that's the best way to get recognized," Hall said. "At the end of the day, these teams draft you for a reason. They draft you because they saw something in you, and that's really what you have to do, is play to your strengths, play to your abilities. Don't try to be a player that you're not. Really enjoy that journey, because junior hockey and those first couple years of pro, any guy will tell you that those can be some of the most enjoyable years when you're starting your career. I wish all those kids all the best."
We'll see who the newest members of the Bruins is when Boston makes the No. 20 pick Friday night.
