In part one of my interview with Taylor Hall, he talked about his shoulder rehab and how much stronger he felt. Today he discusses leadership, bag skates, chirping Strudwick and he had some smart observations about young kids playing hockey.

The conversation starts off discussing his two-week conditioning stint in OKC and what needs to happen before he signs an AHL contract.

JG: You’ve got to come back to Edmonton and the doctors will re-evaluate you to ensure that the shoulder is good before you play in a game, correct?

TH: Yeah. I think I’ll be a professional bag skater by the end of the two weeks.

TH: He’s probably the best stop and starter in the game because of it (laughs). Yeah, that’s pretty much the plan. I’ll get some contact. I’ll get bagged, and then I’ll come back after a couple weeks, see the doc. Hopefully that’s all good. Then I’ll start playing. It will be a pretty quick process, but I have to make sure that I’m game ready before I play.

TH: Yeah, all the time. He chirped me before I even knew it was okay to chirp him.

TH: No, that’s not true. I remember the one time ‑ and he’s probably already told you – I wore this terrible suit into the rink one day. It was a complete junior suit, so he was chirping me; all the guys were chirping me. And then the one day before a road trip he came in with a black V‑neck and just a suit and he looked like Julian from "Trailer Park Boys". Same hair, same outfit, same everything, except he was dressed like this for a road trip, not to hang out in a trailer park. After that it was acceptable to chirp each other. But now that we’re good friends, we have more fun with it.

TH: His hairline. Oh, it’s terrible. His wife is all over him to get a haircut right now, too. If he’s reading this, I hope he’s at the barber right now. He must have built his house without mirrors, I guess.

TH: Ebs (Jordan Eberle) and I are living together again, and he has a two‑month lease for us in OKC.

TH: Nuge is with Schultz. I think our places are right beside each other. We’re in the same building, and it’s a ten‑minute walk from the rink. Ebs set that all up. I’m living in our place here by myself. I’ll just go down there, move right in. He went shopping today for a bunch of stuff for the place, and it will be fun.

TH: Well, he’s down there right now, so he might as well get it all organized. I got everything set up for our place here, and he got everything set up for me, so it’s even.

TH: I think it’s a good opportunity to really step into that role. Ebs has an “A” on his jersey down there. I might bring him down a step or two if I can, (laughs) but it’s definitely a good chance to become a leader. I’ll be playing with guys that are mostly the same age as me, and I think for me and Ebs in three or four or five years, that’s going to be the case here. We’re pretty much the same age as everyone.

So it’s a really good opportunity in a lot of facets. You know, leadership, my defensive game, my power play, my shooting, everything down there I can really improve. And I think the coaches are going to give us an opportunity to be leaders, and hopefully we’re looked upon for that because I think we’re both ready in the AHL and the NHL.

TH: Yeah, there’s definitely that for sure. It also goes along with how you play, how you dedicate yourself to the game and how much respect you really do have for the game. There are guys that are great players on the ice, but they don’t really work hard in the weight room or they don’t say the right things or they just – they don’t act like leaders, and they don’t lead a team. They’re just not leaders. And then there are guys that do it quietly and just go about their business. They don’t really care if there’s anyone watching. And then there are the guys who lead by example.

So there are all different types of leadership. I mean, I’m not sure what I am or what I will be. But I think if you start trying to be someone that you’re not, that’s when it doesn’t really work out for you. So I’m not going to change anything. I’m just going to try and play my game, and hopefully people can relate to that.

TH: I think Ebs and I are probably the same vocally, but Nuge might be more of a lead‑by‑example guy. He’s got a great work ethic. He works very hard. On the ice, people don’t give him enough credit for how much battle he has. And same with Jordan. But I think vocally, I think if there’s something that needs to be said, it will be said. I like to joke around. I like to have fun, but at the same time, I’m very serious when the time comes, so that’s pretty much my type of leadership. I’ve never been a captain in junior or anything like that. So I haven’t really had that opportunity.

But I think over the next few years here we’re going to be looked upon for that for this organization, for this city. I think we’re both excited about it, and it should be fun for the three of us.

TH: Hopefully I get a chance to penalty kill. I think that would be a really good opportunity to work on that part of my game. I think with my speed, I could be a good penalty killer and also score some shorthanded goals. Also I want to improve my defensive game, and like you said my leadership skills. I feel I could improve on every aspect of my game. 
I had a lot of shots last year, but I had some breakaways where I didn’t score. That’s something I really worked on this summer. I need to improve on my breakaways. If I get the chance down there, I need to score. So those three things, I think, are probably the biggest things that I’m going to work on. But overall, everything in my game can really improve.

TH: Just trying to trick the goalie. That’s the biggest thing in a breakaway. You want to do something that he doesn’t think you’re doing, and that’s what I’ve tried to work on. So fakes, moves that are quick to slow or slow to quick. I have watched some guys that are good on breakaways. You know, Gags in his first couple years there, he was dynamite in breakaways. I’ve asked him a couple questions. You can always learn. That’s the thing about me. I love to watch hockey, and I love to learn from other people, so that’s one of the things that you can really do. I look on YouTube or whatever and see what guys do that makes them successful.

TH There’s a lot of hesitation involved. You can’t just go down and shoot. I mean, the goalies are big these days; many of them are 6’4", 6’5". They’re not giving you a whole lot of net. So you’ve got to fake him; you’ve got to make him ‑‑ like I said, you’ve just got to trick him into doing something that he doesn’t want to do, whether he poke checks or anything like that.

The best guys around the league are the ones that mix in a little hesitation, or little fakes that really get them (goalies) to bite, and then after they take advantage of it.

TH: No, I’ve never been to a hockey camp or power skating when I was a kid.

TH: No.

TH: Just at the rink, I think. My dad had me working out when I was around nine, just doing sprints and jump squats and stuff. No weights, just body weight stuff. I never did power skating. I like to think I have a good stride in hockey, but I never actually learned the stride part of it. It just kind of came naturally.

TH: Nope, no skating coaches. I think Steve does a really good job, especially on the skill side of the game. I love practicing with him, and I love the drills that we do. I had a two‑week injury last year, and I practiced with him pretty much every day, and I came back and I felt great and I scored. He was a big part of that.

But as far as hockey camps and power skating as a kid, I just played a lot of sports. I had a lot of fun during the summer and played a lot of road hockey, roller hockey, but being on the ice was only something that was during hockey season for me.

TH: Yeah. My mind was always fresh for hockey. When it came time for hockey, I was just dying to play, and that’s how it should be.

If you’re a kid and all you want to do is play hockey, as a parent you kind of have to hold them back a little bit and make sure you try other sports. If he is a good hockey player and it’s something that he wants to do when he’s older, I think parents need to embed in him that you can’t play hockey year‑round. You’ll just get burnout. As much as he does like it, eventually he’s going to get sick of it. And that’s probably the biggest thing that my parents did. They forced me to do other things, and now I love other sports.

I have such an appreciation for football players, baseball players, golfers and everything because I played sports as a young kid. Even now to this day, I don’t skate a whole lot during the summer. Towards the end of the summer, I do, but I love to take a good amount of time off just to refresh my brain. When I come back to play hockey, it’s the same as when I was a 9‑year‑old. I just love to play. I have a burning desire to play the whole year, instead of not getting burnout at Christmas time.

TH: That’s the one thing I never played was football. My dad played pro football, but I don’t think he really enjoyed it as much as he should have. As soon as he saw that I was pretty good at hockey, he kind of turned his focus to that and never really made me play football. I played soccer and baseball and golf but never football.

 * The best clip is at 1:11 in.**

TH: I like golf the best. I was probably the best at soccer, but that was a long time ago. I’m not sure how good I am now. We play a little soccer game before our games, and it’s actually funny. You can really see who the good athletes are in that soccer game and who are the ones that are just totally uncoordinated. I’m not going to name names, but there was a guy named Jason Strudwick that would play with us, and it was like watching a 40‑year‑old man that had never played sports in his life, kick a soccer ball around. It was pretty bad. It was like the whole idea of a ball was foreign to him. It was almost like he didn’t know how it bounced. It was terrible. (laughs).

TH: Actually, he does. He loves basketball.

TH: He said that he was a good basketball player, and I tend to believe him because he is tall. And he does have big arms and big hands, so that’s pretty good for a basketball player. But as far as soccer, I mean, I give him credit if he never played soccer in his life, but it was pretty bad watching him.

TH Laddy is very good. Horc is good. Dubby is good. Pecks is actually really good. Pecks is a good athlete. I’m okay. I mean, I’m pretty good. And then there are some guys that are just ‑ like, whoa, they never played sports.

TH: Justin Schultz. I didn’t golf with him this summer, but Ebs did a couple times and said he just was off the charts. He shot, I think, a 73 and a 74. After him I’d say Sutton and Horcoff are the best. They’ve golfed some pretty unreal courses. If you ask them where they’ve golfed, it’s like most of the best courses in the world.

TH No. I just really like the sports. I’m not a huge baseball fan during the season. I love the Jays, and since they’re not in the playoffs I’m not rooting for anyone.

TH: It says Hall 4. I’ve got it hanging up in my room. And he gave me a bat actually too.

TH: No, I didn’t get a chance to do that.

TH: In Anaheim, yeah, I did.

TH: I hit the wall, which is okay.

TH : Yeah. Brett Connolly, Tampa Bay draft pick.

TH: That’s really funny, actually. I would have loved to have seen that, I’ll have to ask him about it.

TH: No, I haven’t. I skated with him a couple times during the Perry Pearn camp here, and I just talked to him a little bit, but I never really got a chance to know him at all. I’ve met him off the ice a couple times, and he seemed like a really nice and charismatic kid.

TH: There’s all types of personalities that go into having a really good team and a team fabric. And not every guy is going to be like Yak where he’s very vocal and very outgoing. There’s going to be other guys, who love the game a lot, but are very quiet and that’s what makes everyone different. That’s what makes a good team. But definitely that passion and just having that fight or flight mentality when the going gets tough is definitely important.

TH: I don’t think I’d ever be able to go sky‑diving until after my career, but it’s something I’d like to do. I like to drive fast, but not crazy (laughs). I wouldn’t say I’m an extremist, but I do like to kind of push the boundaries a little bit, wherever it is.

We are hosting a great charitable event on Friday November 2nd at the Pint. Strudwick debuts as a DJ. The great part of the deal is you donate $25 to charity, but we will give you more back in return. It is a win-win and we will help out the Inner City Childrens Program. More info here. Only 300 tickets available so get in and help out.