Hurricanes' Hall, Panthers' Jones reunite in Eastern final after trades from rebuilding Blackhawks

Taylor Hall and Seth Jones started the 2025 calendar year as teammates on a Chicago Blackhawks team mired in a multiyear rebuild and sitting at the bottom of the NHL standings.

Now they're squaring off for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

The Carolina Hurricanes traded for Hall in January, while the Florida Panthers acquired Jones ahead of the March trade deadline. Their new teams — Hall with a perennial playoff team, Jones with the reigning Cup champion — have taken them on a postseason run that now includes a reunion in the Eastern Conference final with Game 2 on Thursday night on Hall's home ice.

''It's not something that we ever talked about really," Hall said. I didn't know if he'd be traded. I knew I would probably get dealt at some point. But just where we were — being at the bottom of the standings, being on a team, an organization, that the pressure to win wasn't really there overall — to where we are now, speaking for him, I'm sure he's excited. And so am I.''

Hall, a 33-year-old forward, is in his 15th NHL season as a former No. 1 overall draft pick (2010) and 2018 Hart Trophy winner as league MVP. Jones, a 30-year-old defenseman, is in his 12th NHL season as a past all-star and No. 4 overall draft pick in 2013.

Before this year, Hall and Jones had each won just two postseason series, one being shortened 2020 qualifier series amid the pandemic. They've matched that now with Carolina and Florida winning two rounds to set up this rematch of the 2023 conference final won by the Panthers.

It's quite a turn from months earlier with the Blackhawks, who have just one playoff appearance (2020) in eight seasons.

From rebuilding to Cup chasing

Chicago acquired Jones from Columbus in July 2021, then acquired Hall from Boston in June 2023 amid what has become a nadir for an Original Six franchise. From the 2021-22 through the 2023-24 seasons, Chicago ranked last among 32 NHL teams in points (179 points) and points percentage (.364), next to last in wins (77 out of 246 games, ahead of only San Jose's 73) and last in goals scored (593), according to Sportradar.

As New Year's Day arrived this year, Chicago was last in the league with 26 points and .342 points percentage amid a rebuild centered around 2023 No. 1 overall pick Connor Bedard. That made both Hall and Jones were appealing to contenders seeking help.

''It was just a timeline of that organization, and nothing against them, I think they're going to be very successful in the future,'' Jones said. "And they wanted to build from the ground up, and there's nothing against that, nothing wrong with that. But in the case of me and Taylor, we were obviously pretty close there in Chicago, kind of in the same situation.

''So we just wanted to give ourselves an opportunity to play on a contending team, to win a Cup, just to have that feeling of playing important games.''

Hall to Carolina

Hall joined Carolina in the January blockbuster that brought Mikko Rantanen to Raleigh for a brief stay that ended at the deadline. He was making $6 million with free-agency looming, but signed a three-year, $9.5 million extension through 2027-28 in April.

A fixture on the Hurricanes' second line, Hall had two goals and four assists in 11 postseason games. His first goal started Carolina's comeback from a 3-0 deficit to win the clinching Game 5 in the first round against New Jersey. His second was a third-period breakaway in a Game 4 win against conference top seed Washington in Round 2.

''Winning it all is amazing, but it's a ride too,'' said Carolina captain Jordan Staal, a Cup winner in 2009 in Pittsburgh. ''It's so enjoyable to just go day-to-day battling with your buddies. there's something about that that gives me chills every time I talk about it and gets you excited. I'm sure Hallsy's feeling that and excited about the future here and how it's all going to play out.''

Jones to Florida

The Panthers acquired Jones, who is under contract through 2030, in March for another title push. Through the series opener, he had three goals and three assists in the postseason while joining Gustav Forsling at plus-7 to lead Florida defensemen.

Jones came through with a key first-period play in Tuesday's 5-2 win, poking away Shayne Gostisbehere's pass to deny Carolina a prime chance. It was a glimpse of how general manager Bill Zito's work paying off in Florida's third straight conference-final appearance.

''The game actually simplifies in the playoffs more than it expands,'' coach Paul Maurice said. ''Teams get to the bare bones of what they do and they just do it over and over again. So he's getting cleaner reps and reads on the way up the ice, and I think that's helped him an awful lot.''

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl