During his National Hockey League career with the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Black Hawks, and St. Louis Blues, Hall seldom missed a game and was a consistent performer, winning the Vezina Trophy, which at the time was awarded to the goaltender on the team allowing the fewest goals against (a distinction that now results in being awarded the William M. Jennings Trophy), three times, being voted the First team All-Star goaltender a record seven times, and winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as best rookie.

After finishing his junior years playing for the Humboldt Indians and the Windsor Spitfires, he signed with the Detroit Red Wings in 1949.

He finally made the Red Wings' lineup as their starting goalie in the 1955–56 season, displacing Terry Sawchuk.

Hall played in every game of his first full season with the Red Wings, recording twelve shutouts, winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year, and being voted the Second Team All-Star goaltender.

Despite this, at season's end, he found himself traded to the Chicago Black Hawks along with NHL Players' Association co-organizer Ted Lindsay.

Hall managed to play 502 consecutive complete games, which spanned eight seasons, an NHL record for goaltenders that is unlikely to be broken.

Despite winning the Vezina Trophy in 1966–67, the 36-year-old Hall was left unprotected for that summer's NHL expansion draft and was chosen by the St. Louis Blues.

One of six expansion franchises in their first year in the league, the Blues stocked themselves with veteran talent, including Red Berenson and Phil Goyette, and won the West Division Playoffs in two seven-game series.

But this was Hall's fourth trip to the finals, and his goaltending was the most outstanding contribution to the surprisingly good performance of the Blues against the Montreal Canadiens.

‘The odds were heavily stacked against us right from the start.’ In 1968, veteran goaltending legend Jacques Plante joined the Blues, sharing duties with Hall.