Last week was an interesting yet boring one in the land of the Edmonton Oilers. We sat through 3 excruciating press conferences which provided very little new information other than “still evaluating” and the promise of unveiling “a plan”.
Let’s take a look at things…
In 2016-17 the heavily favoured Chicago Blackhawks lost to the Nashville Predators in the first round of the NHL playoffs. Pekka Rinne shutout the Hawks twice in a row en route to a 4-0 sweep. Questions were asked. Are the Hawks done? What can they do to change this and get back to Cup contenders who can go deep in the playoffs?
They did a few things. The Panarin trade was a disaster and made the Columbus Blue Jackets a serious threat in the east. Another thing they did (and what I’ll focus on) was fire assistant coach Mike Kitchen. Kitchen had worked with head coach Joel Quenneville for about 10 years total. From 1998-2003 with St. Louis (Pronger and MacInnis years), and from 2012-2017 with the Blackhawks. Reportedly Quenneville was PISSED that they fired his top assistant coach and good friend. Kitchen primarily coached the defence and helped on the penalty kill. The Hawks proceeded to have their worst season in over 10 years and missed the playoffs by nearly 20 points.
Now how does this relate to our Oilers? This organization is a mess, and a lot of what will follow is a reflection of said mess.
Last Thursday night, TSN 1260 host Dean Millard broke some “news?” that a “former NHL executive” direct messaged him on twitter saying that Oilers head coach Todd McLellan is staying but was told he has to fire one assistant coach and Todd said Jim Johnson would be the one to go.
Received a DM from a former NHL executive today who told me McLellan has already made his choice and the guy who runs the PK is the sacrificial lamb, so that would be Jim Johnson. We'll have to wait and see. We'll chat about this tonight on #SportsNight on @TSN1260#Oilers.
This information is sketchy at best, personally, I don’t buy it, but its worth an analysis. It really does make sense in a way, though. If McLellan was given such an ultimatum, would he choose close confidante and friend Jay Woodcroft (who he’s been working with since 2005), or Johnson who was brought in by Doug Wilson to San Jose (along with NHL Hall of Famer Larry Robinson) in 2012?
Jim Johnson was a tough as nails stay-at-home defenceman when he played in the NHL. Notably for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Unfortunately, he was traded to the Minnesota North Stars the same year the Penguins beat the Stars to win their first Stanley Cup. Johnson’s coaching career started with stints under Rick Tocchet in Tampa Bay and Bruce Boudreau in Washington before being hired by San Jose in 2012.
When McLellan was hired by the Oilers he brought both assistants from his time in San Jose. The special teams there often struggled, especially in the last year when they missed the playoffs and all three were fired. Things weren’t much better here in 2015-16, but in 2016-17 the Oilers had a great powerplay at about 22% and a slightly below average penalty kill. But also in 2016-17, some great strides were made with our overall defensive play. Matt Benning became a name. Eric Gryba could shut things down sometimes. It just worked.
2017-18 was a different story. While Darnell Nurse took a huge step forward, Oscar Klefbom took a few steps backward. The penalty kill was historically bad. The question is can we pin this on one guy? Is Jim Johnson the scapegoat?
It’s important to remember the NHL isn’t the NFL. There’s 23 man rosters, not 53. There’s no such thing as an offensive coordinator or a defensive coordinator. The head coach controls the systems. The assistants assist. However, often times the “defence coach” will for all intents and purposes have major coaching control over defencemen and even (for some teams) choose matchups and send out defence pairings from the bench. (Not sure if Johnson does/did this with the Oilers).
McLellan appears to have a lot of power at this point in time. The fact he wasn’t fired after game 82 (or even during the season as some thought he should including yours truly), means he’s most likely staying as Oilers head coach for the beginning of the 2018-19 NHL season.
But… Will he get to choose his assistants? Someone needs to be fired for this disaster of a season. Jay Woodcroft and the 31st ranked NHL powerplay will be back, he’s been attached with super glue to McLellan since 2005. But what would happen with Jim Johnson and who would replace him? I mean who in the Oilers organization would be a good candidate to coach the Oilers young defenceman? It’s not like there’s a Hall of Famer top all-time NHL defenceman recently hired by the Oilers is there?…
BAH GAWD!!! IS THAT??.. IT IS!!!… THAT’S PAUL COFFEY’S MUSIC!!!!
All kidding aside, that most likely wouldn’t be McLellan’s choice as defensive assistant coach. And as much as I love Paul Coffey (one of my top 3 favourite all-time players), I don’t want anything forced upon McLellan if he stays on here. The Oilers are the definition of organizational dysfunction, and the last thing we need is it to be directly behind the bench (although we have it already, but I digress).
Is McLellan really willing or able to find the best and brightest to be an assistant coach at the most important position? One that might have a different vision and philosophy as he does? One that could possibly take over as head coach if we get off to another slow start next year? One that could take his job and get the team in a better direction, thus making him look more incompetent that he looks now? Yeah, I doubt it…
If we’re going to keep McLellan, we might as well keep the other underachievers too. There’s no assistant knight in shining armor to save the day. If Todd is the coach then it’s his team and his assistants. No more dysfunction, please. It’s brutal. Learn from Chicago.
It should be simple: Either fire the mall or keep the mall.
Plan A: Fire all of them (makes way too much sense)
Plan B: Fire an assistant coach (creates more problems)
Plan C: Stay the course (nobody wants it, but it’s better than plan B)
The Dirtbag
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What an emotional ending to the 2017-18 NHL season. The Humboldt Broncos tragedy from Friday night will weigh on all of our hearts for years to come. With that being said here are my individual season grades for the 2017-18 Edmonton Oilers.
FORWARDS
Connor McDavid: 82 GP 41 G 67 A 108 PTS +20
What do you say about the best player in the NHL? A lot. The Captain had a bit of a slow start (for his lofty standards) mainly due to a serious illness, during which he lost nearly 20 pounds. It should be added that he DID NOT MISS A GAME over this time. When he finally got healthy he went on an absolute tear. Averaged nearly two points per game during March and April. Also finished with 84 even strength points, the highest NHL total in 20 years! Just imagine what he could’ve done with a good powerplay, we might have seen 1980’s or 90’s type numbers. The fact he added a few new tricks up his sleeve like a deadly quick wrist shot shows that he still will get even better (scary for the rest of the NHL). Trying to find a negative is hard, but 41% on faceoffs can be improved upon. I could really go on forever about our savior. Quite simply, he put the franchise on his back.
Grade: A+++
Leon Draisaitl: 78-25-45-70-(-7)
There was some major inconsistency in Draisaitls season. But you look at the stat line and it’s really what we asked for. Missed 4 games early in the season due to a concussion, and like McDavid (and the entire team really) had a slow start himself. Played the majority of the season at RW with Connor, but they didn’t have the same success as last season. When playing centre he showed the ability to make his wingers better and showed a solid two-way game making many great defensive plays as well. A better powerplay would have also boosted his totals.
Grade: B
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: 62-24-24-48-(+10)
McNuge! What a fantastic ending to the season for Nuge. Once put on a line with McDavid he looked like he belonged and then some. He had never played on the wing in the NHL prior to this. Talk of him potentially being traded for a winger to play with McDavid has been silenced, as he produced a point per game pace playing with the Captain. Still gets outmuscled on one on one battles sometimes, and got injured again which happens far too frequently. Those are the only reasons his grade isn’t higher.
Grade: B+
Milan Lucic: 82-10-24-34-(-12)
Oh boy. A tale of two halves for Looch. At the Christmas break, he was on pace to tie a career high in assists and points. Then what happened? Only one goal in almost 50 games. Absolutely inexcusable for a player we count on for much more. Had every opportunity with McDavid, too, along with #1 powerplay time most of the season. Often looked disinterested. Way too careless with the puck. Showed some life in the last game vs Calgary, punching Mike Smith in the head several times and then beating the shit out of Tanner Glass. That’s the only thing that saves him from an F.
Grade: D-
Ryan Strome: 82-13-21-34-(-4)
Here’s one where the boxcar stats pretty much tell the story. Really not a lot to write home about for the player acquired in the Eberle trade. The good: He can shoot the puck. Hit many posts and had lots of near misses. The bad: We need a little more production out of him. 45% faceoffs isn’t great for a 3rd line centre.
Grade: C-
Mike Cammalleri: 51-4-18-22-(-4)
The 35-year-old was acquired to erase the mistake that was Jussi Jokinen, and Cammalleri certainly did so. But that’s about all he did. Had a mini-Lucic goalless drought, but got a couple late in the season to make it a less than respectable total of 4. From all accounts, he is very well liked by the other players, so there’s that. Took away ice time from younger players (especially on the pp), but that’s not his fault.
Grade: C-
Jujhar Khaira: 69-11-10-21-(-7)
A major bright spot in a dismal Oilers season. Jujhar showed what it should mean to be an Edmonton Oiler. From sticking up for teammates, scoring timely goals, and playing any role that is asked of him. Moved from LW to centre and didn’t look out of place. A definite keeper and a locked in part of the future. And he beats the shit out of people.
Grade: B+
Jesse Puljujärvi: 65-12-8-20-(-1)
Ugh. The fact some are starting to compare his development with Yakupov is troubling. Started the season in the AHL. Played very well after being called up, then got saddled with some questionable linemates which hurt his production and confidence. Sat on the bench a lot due to not being trusted by the coaching staff. Barely saw any meaningful powerplay time. He does a lot of things well. Uses his size and good quickness for a big kid to forecheck relentlessly. Also is usually the first man back on the defensive side of things. Can shoot the puck as well. He’s a 5 tool player in terms of talent but needs some better opportunity and talented players to play with to develop into the player envisioned when he was drafted 4th overall. The sky is the limit, but will he get the chance here to break out? Time will tell. He’s only 19, so I’m not giving up. Hopefully, the team doesn’t either.
Grade: C
Drake Caggiula: 67-13-7-20-(-13)
Up and down season for another inconsistent player. At his best, he plays a fast physical game and has some offensive skill to finish off plays. At his worst, he’s invisible unless he misses yet another grade-A chance. Was counted on to improve from last season and ended up having basically the same season. Maybe this is all he is.
Grade: C-
Zack Kassian: 74-7-12-19-(-8)
Very similar numbers to last season, but you wouldn’t know it to watch him. That same edge we saw (especially in the playoffs) wasn’t there for the most part. Still led the team with 92 penalty minutes though. I think it’s more a symptom of the team not being in contention. But this column isn’t about excuses. He must show more next season.
Grade: C-
Anton Slepyshev: 50-6-6-12-(-4)
Another victim of simply not having the kind of linemates where one could expect a lot from him. His agent must have felt the same, as Chiarelli put the word out that the Oilers would be willing to move him mid-season. Slepy can definitely shoot the puck, no doubt about it. He can also skate and play a physical game. Which makes one wonder why the coaching staff didn’t give him much opportunity. Could be KHL bound. Sad if it happens, because he can play in this league.
Grade: C
Ty Rattie: 14-5-4-9-(+1)
What a story. Rattie was called up, put on McDavid’s line, and the rest is history. Smart player who has complimented McDavid and Nuge very well. Below average skater at this level. Sometimes you see glimpses as to why he hasn’t made it as a full-time NHLer yet. Will be an intriguing one to watch if the Oilers choose to bring him back.
Grade: B+
Pontus Aberg: 16-2-6-8-(+1)
Brought in at the trade deadline for Mark Letestu. Aberg is an interesting prospect. Man can he ever skate. Showed some offensive instincts playing with Draisaitl. Unfortunately, he’s been healthy scratched 4 times since coming here. There was the off-ice issue on the Florida road trip, and then recently when McLellan called him out for having a lack of passion. A bit troubling, but at this point, he’s just a prospect so hopefully he learns and grows from it.
Grade: C
Iiro Pakarinen: 40-2-1-3-(+1)
I like Iiro. He’s a very good penalty killer. Won’t provide much offence, but that’s not what he’s here for. Plays a hard game in limited minutes. I don’t know if he’ll be brought back. Good guy.
Grade: C+
DEFENCE
Darnell Nurse: 82-6-20-26-(+15)
Unquestionably the Oilers best defenceman for the first 45-50 games. Had a bit of a dip in play in January and February (along with the rest of the team), but finished strong. His skating is amazing for a guy his size. Physical. An elite shutdown defenceman who can neutralize other teams stars. Can take the puck by himself into the offensive zone. Showed flashes of an improved shot, and has more to give in the future on the offensive side of things in general. Led Oilers defencemen in games played, goals, assists, points, plus/minus, and penalty minutes. An absolute stud. Only 22 years old. The most untradeable member of the Oilers not named McDavid or Draisaitl.
Grade: A-
Oscar Klefbom: 66-5-16-21-(-12)
Brutal year for Klef. He simply wasn’t the same player who emerged in a big way last season becoming our #1 defenceman. Was injured all season, which didn’t help matters either. Made more mental mistakes than I can ever remember seeing from an Oilers defenceman. Often looked like he was actually daydreaming on the ice at times. Was awful on the powerplay where he couldn’t hit the net with a shot, and often bungled simple breakout plays as well. Had a good few games before being finally shut down for surgery. It was a season to forget, and I hope he forgets it. A huge part of the team moving forward. If he doesn’t get traded that is…
Grade: D-
Kris Russell: 78-4-17-21-(-7)
The most polarizing player on the Oilers. Was his usual self this season. Almost always leads the league in blocked shots. 20 points is all you really ask for on the offensive end. He’s prevented more than that on the defensive end. Yes, he could move the puck quicker at times, but really he’s not the problem and helped the team more than he hurt it this season. Was injured many times but always came back being the warrior he is. I’m happy he’s an Oiler.
Grade: B
Matt Benning: 73-6-15-21-(+5)
That’s a very good stat line for Benning, but this is a case where the stats are a bit generous to his overall play. Was counted on to mitigate the loss of Sekera in the first half of the season, but it did not go as planned. Made some pretty bad mental mistakes. The pairing of him and Klefbom can only be described as a disaster. Constantly missed guys on breakout passes, bobbled pucks at the blueline, and blew a lot of coverage in his own end. Having said that, he has a physical (almost nasty) edge to his game at times and could be a solid 3rd pair defenceman in the NHL. But top 4 minutes and powerplay time isn’t ideal. His grade is bumped up because he played above his weight class.
Grade: C-
Adam Larsson: 63-4-9-13-(+10)
Larsson’s story this season is well known. The pairing of him and Nurse was one of the bright spots of the first 1/3 of the season. They locked it down. His play started to dip before the tragic loss of his father. When he came back from that, he was the elite shutdown defenceman we’ve come to know over the last two seasons. Physical. Nasty. He makes it a long night for opposing forwards trying to score on us. A huge part of the future on the right side. Larsson isn’t flashy offensively, but he puts the word “defence” in defenceman. Another stud.
Grade: B+
Yohann Auvitu: 33-3-6-9-(+4)
Solid addition as a spare 7/8 defenceman. Auvitu no doubt has some offensive instincts. Can skate pretty well, makes some solid passes, and a decent shot. Usually is good for one defensive blunder per game, however. Never gained trust from the coaching staff for that reason. I think he deserved to play more than he did (especially with the defence core missing so many games), but also understand why he didn’t.
Grade: C
Andrej Sekera: 36-0-8-8-(-15)
Horrible. Tore his ACL in game 5 of last years round two series with Anaheim. By all accounts had a “successful” surgery and recovery. Practiced with the team for a full month before returning as an extra precaution. And wow did he ever suck. Couldn’t skate which is understandable. But his mental errors just giving the puck right to the other team in prime scoring positions were inexcusable even being on one leg. Didn’t provide much in the way of defensive coverage. Provided next to nothing offensively. A major liability on the powerplay. The “shinpad assassin” gets nearly every shot attempt blocked, and the play often ended in odd-man rushes going the other way. Re-injured the surgically repaired knee late in the season, which makes one wonder about Sekeras future with the Oilers.
Grade: F
Ethan Bear: 18-1-3-4-(-10)
Some highs and lows for the rookie in his first taste of NHL action. It was apparent right away that he can move the puck. Probably already the best one at that on the Oilers. Has great offensive vision and a solid point shot. Looks like he can be the point man on the powerplay. Bear still has work to do in his own end though. Wouldn’t hurt for him to get a little bit faster in the offseason to try and help secure himself a roster spot on opening night. Exciting prospect.
Grade: C+
GOALIES
Cam Talbot: 67 GP 31-31-3 3.02 GAA .908 SVPCT 1 SO
Another player where the overall stats are a little generous in relation to his quality of performance. Cam sucked this year. From allowing goals on the first shot of the game time and time again, failing to make the big save when we needed it, and looking tired and fatigued for the majority of the season. Has developed a really bad habit of dropping to his knees for shots from the slot and beyond, resulting in many many high glove or high blocker attempts become gimme goals. Had a pretty decent finish to the season which saves him from the dreaded F. Simply put, he has to be better for the OIlers to have a chance at the playoffs next season.
Grade: D-
Al Montoya: 9 GP 2-2-2 2.94 GAA .906 SVPCT
Brought in mid-season from Montreal, Montoya basically did his job. He’s not a guy who will challenge Talbot, but he provided some quality starts and came in relief giving the Oilers a chance to win a few games. Not a positionally sound goaltender by any means. Entertaining to watch though. Put Ryan Rishaug in his place which bumps him up a bit in my books.
What a disaster. Was counted on to be the backup after a very strong showing in limited action last season. He failed miserably. This young man did not look like an NHL goaltender. When Talbot got hurt and Brossoit became the starter for a couple weeks, it basically ended our season with no hope of recovering.
Grade: F
COACHING
Todd McLellan put on one of the most disappointing coaching performances in Oilers history this season. The fact people are starting to compare him with Eakins says a lot. Powerplay: Worst in the NHL by far. Penalty KIll: Right near the basement. Got outcoached at home with matchups where he had last change to prevent such outcomes. Line combinations were a disaster as well, constantly going back to McDavid with Draisaitl when it clearly wasn’t working and shredded the depth of a pretty thin lineup to begin with. The defence lacked any kind of structure which we had last season. Often a day late and a dollar short when he needed to pull the plug on Talbot. Never held officials accountable. Never used timeouts when we needed them. The worst timing of goalie pulls for an extra attacker I’ve ever seen. One could have made a case to fire him mid-season when the team appeared to quit on him with 5-0 shutout losses piling up in short succession. Refused to develop younger players even when mandated to do so after the trade deadline. Employs two of the worst assistant coaches in the NHL. Finally trying Nuge with McDavid might save his job, but it won’t save him from the grade I’m giving him.
Grade: F-
GENERAL MANAGER
Peter Chiarelli is not a popular man among Oilers fans. That’s a massive understatement. I’m focusing only on the 2017-18 season for this. Didn’t give the team the best opening roster, having to play 18-year-old Kailer Yamamoto because of the lack of RW depth. Overestimated the ability of the defence to make up for the loss of Andrej Sekera. Waited way too long to find a backup goaltender. Many argue (myself included) that the coaching staff should have been fired in November or December to give the team a chance to turn it around. A couple minor trades were wins with Cammalleri for Jokinen and Aberg for an expiring Letestu contract, but that doesn’t say much. Crucial offseason ahead for the much-maligned Oilers GM and President of Hockey Operations.
Grade: F
Thank you for reading. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on the grades, and let’s keep talking on Twitter during the offseason. @DirtbagDonny
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The year is 1997. The undermanned and under-budgeted Edmonton Oilers have barely squeaked into the first round of the NHL playoffs with hard work, grit, determination, heart, and pride. They would go on to defeat the heavily favored Dallas Stars with multiple future Hall of Famers in 7 games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ1Ewaf-k0o
The next season it happened again vs the Colorado Avalanche who had just won a Stanley Cup in 1996. These Oiler teams were what many fans identified with and still identify with. We were underdogs. Afterthoughts. Had no business playing with the big boys. But they underestimated us. And we proved people wrong.
Fast forward to the decade of darkness and the present… It’s fair to say some things have changed. That hard-working group of rag tags turned into just rag tags. Mismanagement at all levels turned the Oilers into the joke of the NHL. Many fans embraced the suck hoping for the next first overall draft pick to help turn it around, but it was not to be.
When things go this bad for this long, it’s an even worse and longer process to fix it. And on April 18, 2015, the process sped up in a big way. We. Won… Connor! McDavid!
Unfortunately, McDavid doesn’t play defence or goaltender as well, but having the best player since Mario Lemieux fall into your laps is the greatest blessing a fan base could ever hope for.
The city and fans were absolutely ecstatic. For once there was serious hope it was going to turn around and with the greatest player (and person) to lead the way. At this point, we also added an experienced coach in Todd McLellan and an experienced Stanley Cup winning GM in Peter Chiarelli. Both were pretty quick to temper expectations, citing the massive amount of work to be done to rebuild after the awful mismanagement from previous years. This was described as a 5-year plan.
Nobody wanted to wait 5 years though. I didn’t. The “smart” fans (hate that term) saw the value in McDavid’s entry-level contract being the cheapest he’d ever be and felt that the next 3 years should be the time to make a run for the cup… After losing for 10 years. Go for The Cup!
This was pretty delusional as the team was far from complete. Something had to change. Everybody knew we needed an overhauled defence and goaltending to even get to the playoffs, let alone make a cup run. Even the said “smart” fans wanted a trade for a defenceman and to sign one or two more. Chiarelli did acquire Cam Talbot so we got the goalie. Then he signed Andrej Sekera. That was one defenceman. Still a little work to do…
After 2015-16 (another year missing the playoffs) it was crystal clear something big was going to change. There was no way to go on with a team so unbalanced with skilled forwards and no reliable defencemen. Many suggested trading Jordan Eberle as he was viewed as the more desirable player to give up between him, Hall, and Nuge. I was definitely in this camp but also wondered was that enough to get the lockdown defenceman we needed?
Then the Hall trade happened. I was livid just like everyone else. After a couple weeks, I calmed down. My thinking was if we make the playoffs, it’s worth it.
We made the playoffs. 2 rounds. (Would have been 3 had we not been screwed by the NHL, but that’s another story)
Now I’m very active on Twitter. I have a balanced feed of fans with all kinds of different opinions and stances. Many were grateful that we finally made the playoffs, many thought that wasn’t enough. I saw some prominent people with a large following say things like “The only way to justify the Hall trade is if the Oilers win the Cup”.. So we went from 10 years no playoffs to THE CUP OR FIRE CHIARELLI? .. What?
This isn’t the only thing I’ve seen, and I’m sure you have too. “The Oilers have wasted McDavids ELC”, “If we don’t win now, we’ll never win because of the McDavid and Draisaitl contracts”, and my favorite “McDavid should guarantee you at least 3 Cups”.
This is an absolutely ridiculous line of thinking. A certain portion of fans pretty much wanted the NHL to hand over the Stanley Cup once we won the lottery in 2015. It doesn’t work like that. Nothing is handed to you. Yes, we got extremely lucky but that’s not the finish line. That’s the starting gate.
Connor McDavid is only 21 years old. We are witnessing a young man creating magic night after night in the regular season. It’s incredible to watch. I’m thankful every night I get to watch him.
Let’s stop expecting the Stanley Cup every year and just enjoy the journey. When we get there it’ll be unexpected and therefore much more fulfilling. It will all be worth it one day.
The Dirtbag
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Warning: This is NS (not suitable) for some Oilers fans.
Taylor Hall is a great player. Finished top 10 in NHL scoring twice as a member of some awful Oilers teams. Let’s get that out of the way because it simply cannot be debated.
At the time of the trade, I was livid as were 95% of Oiler fans. How could we trade this absolute stud for a stay at home defenceman? Is Peter Chiarelli for real? We wanted Karlsson for Hall. P.K. Subban. Ekman-Larsson. Even Shea Weber would’ve been more understandable for most fans.
Last week Georges Laraque made some comments on French radio. Yes, it’s hearsay, and he later retracted and apologized for the comments. The fact he blamed it on an agent makes one think the NHLPA got wind of it and instructed him to do so… But then he deleted his retraction. This could be because of possible legal issues which some have suggested (but personally I doubt as 100’s or 1000’s of screenshots have already been taken), or because there is some smoke above the fire.
There’s a ton of stories out there. Even if only half are true, it’s pretty clear he partook in the Edmonton nightlife. Heavily. I didn’t even go out much, but I have a couple I’ve personally witnessed. One I will take to the grave (other than two very trusted people who will as well) because it was so greasy… But there’s nothing wrong with this. He never hurt anybody in any way. He’s never been charged with a criminal offense.
As an NHL General Manager, you manage not only the players but the person. There are many other things going on in players lives that we don’t know about and have no right to know about. Sometimes a change of scenery is a good thing. This is only a small part of the case, though. Whether Laraque spilled the beans or not, he was pointing to a larger issue with the player. Perhaps his act was wearing thin with the prospect of McDavid going into his second year. Maybe other guys on the team thought it was a little too much partying? Who knows?
Ideal return for Hall is top pairing Dman who can play tough minutes against anyone, as opposed to 2nd pairing Off minded guy. Tough 2 find
In the end, though the simple fact was we needed a right-handed top pair defenceman very badly. The off-ice stuff might have made it easier to justify the supposed low return. Maybe other NHL GMs heard things from friends of friends of friends like we all have. Quite frankly it’s naive to think they didn’t. Even without the noise Hall wouldn’t fetch a Subban, Seth Jones, Karlsson, etc etc. That’s just dreaming.
So we ended up with Larsson. And how bad was it?
He stabilized our defence. He’s nearly +40 since joining the Oilers. He’s brought out the best in Klefbom and Nurse while being paired with them. Two guys who many questioned if they had puck moving potential. With Larsson, they have the freedom to do so. He’s been called “The Swedish Gator (Jason Smith)”. I’ve seen comments on twitter saying we haven’t had a defenceman play in his own end like that since Pronger.
Some will say “They traded Hall for a second pair D!” “Fire Chiarelli” etc.
But the reality is that Adam Larsson IS a top pair right defenceman capable of playing 20-25 minutes a game vs the other teams best players. (Sidenote: up until this season Sidney Crosby had never scored a POINT vs Adam Larsson. And they played in the same division for 4 years).
It was a hockey trade. And a good one for the Oilers.
The Dirtbag
This The Dirtbag’s first post with us and we hope it’s the first of many. The Dirtbag is going to bring a very blunt point-of-view to our blogs and it’s something I welcome. I (BLH) feel like things could use a little spice around the site and spice is what The Dirtbag brings. You may be put off by his straightforwardness but I urge you to try to read the larger message he’s trying to send. He’s a TRUE fan of the game and a GREAT Oilers fan living right in the heart of the Oilers jungle.
Please welcome him with some swear words in the comments section. Haha!
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