One of the best team stories of the NHL season so far has been the bounce back of the Edmonton Oilers who, after years of obscurity and mismanagement are a competitive team once again, sitting second in the Pacific Division and looking like a good bet to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
On the NHL’s trade deadline day, the Oilers would do well to acquire a backup goaltender to get some help for overworked starter Cam Talbot down the stretch and they’ve been linked to Jarome Iginla in rumours. But it’s unlikely they’ll make the kind of franchise-altering move they pulled off last summer when they sent Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils for Adam Larsson.
Like it or not, the shocking move got the Oilers a minute-eating defenceman they needed, even though the price to get it was high. Hall, the first overall pick in 2010, was one of the best offence-driving left wingers in the league during his time with the Oilers with his best season coming in 2013-14 when he managed 27 goals and 80 points. This season in New Jersey, Hall is the leading scorer on the NHL’s third-lowest scoring team.
Hall, who has said he didn’t want to leave Edmonton but has gotten over the bitterness he had after the trade initially happened, was interviewed by former teammate Ryan Whitney on Barstool Sports’ Spittin’ Chiclets Podcast recently. Hall was asked about the kind of feelings he would have if the Oilers won the Stanley Cup.
“If they win the Cup, I’ll be choked,” Hall said. “I think like the first 15 or 20 games they played this year, every game I’d be on my phone waiting to see how they did. Now I don’t really care as much. Like I said, if they win the Cup I’ll be choked. But they’re going to make the playoffs, and I got my own thing going on here and I’m getting more and more used to it, but at the start of the year every game they won, I’d be like, ‘Oh my God!’ Now not so much. They’re going to make the playoffs. I’m happy for guys like Ebs, for guys like Nuge and Connor not having to wait too long into his career to feel the playoffs. It’s good for them.”
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In Hall’s six seasons in Edmonton, the Oilers finished better than fifth in their division only once and that came during the lockout-shortened 48-game season.
“Dude, I looked at some of the records of the teams I played on in Edmonton, it was like Colorado this year,” Hall said.
In his return to the city in January, Hall had an eventful and emotional game. The team gave him a video tribute, he recorded an assist, and delivered a heavy elbow to Zack Kassian off a faceoff.
While Hall continues to be a terrific scorer with the Devils, Larsson’s impact with the Oilers is less obvious. He’s not an offensive defenceman by any means, with just 15 points in 61 games, but he averages 20:10 of ice time per game, including 1:40 on the penalty-kill. He’s a serviceable second-pair defenceman — a position the Oilers were severely lacking before this trade.
The trade price was steep but, so far at least, you can’t argue with the results.
