Farewell, Sweet Prince

Farewell: used to express good wishes on parting

I woke up Wednesday morning with a feeling of dread in my heart, a feeling that didn’t go away throughout the day at work. It was a hard enough day (in that we had our year-end farewell at school, and I had to say goodbye to colleagues and a place that I’d grown to love), but I made it through without incident. As I was on my way home, however, I got a text message that turned my world upside down.

Oh no.

Those words struck fear into my heart, and because I know my friend @beardsbrown wouldn’t ever say that without cause, I knew exactly what it was about. I felt as though the air had been sucked out of my lungs.  Minutes later, it was done. Taylor Hall, king of my heart and everything, had been traded to New Jersey for what still feels like magic beans. (Full disclosure: It’s not Adam Larsson’s fault for the scrutiny he’s going to be under, but he’ll forever be tied to The Trade that broke my heart.)

I’m fairly sure that none of you are equipped to deal with the fallout of a potential Hall trade. I will be a shell of myself.

— Love Hurts (@mig14) March 29, 2016

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For the record, I was a disaster on Wednesday and cried most of the afternoon. It’s a good thing this didn’t happen on Friday during the draft; I’d have been inconsolable.

 

The Trade

I realize that my bias in favour of Taylor Hall is perhaps clouding my judgement on this, but I can’t fathom a world in which the Oilers are a better team without Hall. Sure, the potential for Milan Lucic might soften the blow a bit, but all things being equal this team is worse off without Taylor Hall. We had the potential for 4 more years of a team with McDavid and Hall (arguably two of the best players in the league), and now we have McDavid and a 4th overall pick who we hope will pan out.

I don’t know enough about Adam Larsson to really evaluate the return on the deal, and I’ll leave that up to people who know better than I. At first glance, though, I’m pretty certain that the Oilers lost the trade (and every other team in the league knows it). This doesn’t bode well for any negotiating position in the future, and knowing our luck as Oilers fans, Milan Lucic will be a member of the Dallas Stars later today.

I’ve seen a bunch of people trying to rationalize the trade, but as far as I’m concerned it was just bad. I know that pro sports is a business, and a lot of this has to do with money for a future McDavid contract but this one hurts on a level I can’t really begin to express. (If you’re looking, our own WheatNOil summed things up really well last night.)

Reflections on The Trade. https://t.co/sAvW2Kxf3I via @storify

— Love Hurts (@mig14) July 1, 2016

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King of My Heart…

It’s no secret that Taylor Hall was my first favourite Oiler since Doug Weight donned the blue and orange (or copper and blue as it were). You just have to take a look through my twitter feed or read my gameday posts here on The Rig to know how much I love him. I’ve written about him many times, and part of my gameday routine was to tweet out (at least once) OH HAI TAYLOR HALL ON MY TEEVEE.

I love watching him play. He skates like the wind, drives offence like no one else on the team, and makes everyone around him better. This is a kid who, at age 20, bypassed an RFA deal to sign a 7-year extension to play in Edmonton. And he WANTED to be here. At the time, these were Hall’s thoughts on the team’s future: “When they said seven years I didn’t blink. I’m comfortable being here for that long. I think by that time … I hope we’re a perennial threat. That’s my main goal and my mindset when I signed the deal.” To me, that doesn’t sound like someone who had a problem with playing here. He truly believed that he was part of the solution here (and, for the record, I do too), but management obviously saw things differently.

For all intents and purposes, Hall was the face of the franchise. Even this season with McDavid on the roster, this was still Hall’s team. He didn’t complain about the losing (even though that must have been so hard after being on winning teams in junior), he took his injuries and bad luck in stride (remember when his face was stepped on and he wanted to come back to play that night after getting dozens of stitches), and he played his heart out night after night despite being employed by a garbage fire team.

 

…And Everything

I’m not sure what it was that drew me to Hall in the first place, other than the potential for a hotshot forward while the Oilers were floundering in January of 2010. Over the last 6 seasons, Hall grew on me. I’ll be the first to admit that I fell victim to the whole “why aren’t we better we have Taylor Hall” school of thought in his first couple seasons. The lockout year, however, changed my mind; I figured out that there was more to him than just the reckless abandon with which he played.

Something happened in the summer of 2015, and Taylor Hall came back to the Oilers with a renewed sense of purpose. He lit it up for the first two thirds of the season, and he was an absolute joy to watch. He was also much more comfortable in the spotlight, and so when he was interviewed I often felt like he had something to say instead of the pat answers we usually get from players.

I know I’m a broken record, but Taylor Hall has grown up before our eyes and it is the most incredible thing. I want him to win SO BAD.

— Love Hurts (@mig14) February 21, 2016

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I felt like Hall had finally turned the corner in terms of his on- and off-ice leadership, and an impromptu visit to the Stollery by Hall, McDavid and Gazdic was just one example of the good character he exhibited. He was the consummate teammate and never said a bad word about anyone in the organization. According to various MSM members, he was always available for them and made time to talk even after a tough loss. He was the face and voice of the franchise, and I think that’s going to be difficult to replace.

This Is The End

I was hoping that with the addition of a defenceman or two, and the subtraction of some less productive assets that the first season in Rogers Place would be a breakout year for this team, led in tandem by Taylor Hall and Connor McDavid.

Instead, I have to wait until January to see Hall and Connor McDavid on the ice together again, and it’ll be so weird seeing him in a jersey that doesn’t have the oil drop on it, with a number that isn’t 4 (because Scott Stevens wore that, and it’s been retired in NJ). It’ll be weird to see him lining up against his former teammates, and it’ll be awful to see him celebrate scoring a goal against the Oilers (because you know he will). I’ve wanted him to win SO BAD for so long, and now I feel like that chance has been taken away from him somehow. This team was a piece or two away from making a serious push, and a full season of Connor McDavid in a new building is something that I wish he could have experienced.

Speaking of Connor McDavid, he had this to say and it made me cry:

It’s upsetting to see a teammate, a dear friend and my roommate go. I want to express thanks for all that he has done for me because he’s done so much. I’ll never really know how I can repay him, or if I’ll ever be able to, for what he’s done for me this year. He’s the guy who took me under his wing right away. It’s hard to explain how much that means to me.

Taylor Hall absolutely deserved better from the organization. He spent 6 years here and planned on being here for at least 4 more, giving us everything he had. In return, they let him go for a song without so much as a “thanks for being a good soldier”.

From Terry Jones’ piece yesterday:

Taylor Hall represented the price Edmonton fans paid to watch a mismanaged hockey team with no defence and no goaltending. You can’t blame Hall for being pissed he got traded. Hall deserved to have the chance to play his entire career here, maybe even one day see his banner raised to the roof.
Taylor Hall didn’t fail the Edmonton Oilers. The Edmonton Oilers failed Taylor Hall.

My own bias notwithstanding, there is much truth in that statement. He may not have been as consistent as we’d have liked, but it’s undeniable that he was an impact player and made absolutely everyone he played with better. The only thing Hall couldn’t do here was single-handedly drag the Oilers into the playoffs, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. He was our only 80 point scorer since Doug Weight (!), and he did it all without any real blueline support. An actual defence corps would have probably had a massive impact on his game, but I guess we’ll never know.

Farewell, Sweet Prince

I’m going to miss seeing Taylor Hall in Oiler blue. He plays the game with such passion and heart and seeing those qualities manifested in his goal celebrations is one of my favourite things about him.

I’ll miss his candid post-game interviews, and his nearly unparalleled skill on the ice.

I’m going to miss seeing he and Leon Draisaitl combine for goals that shouldn’t be possible.

I’m going to miss seeing him flying across the blueline and crashing the net, scoring goals that no one else on the team gets in there to score.

I’m going to miss a lot of stuff about him, but mostly I’m just going to miss him.

I’m sad about The Trade, because it took away from the potential that we as fans knew to be there. I’m sad that my favourite Oiler has (yet again) been traded away for less than he’s worth.

I think I’m most sad that he’ll never get the chance to hoist the Stanley Cup as an Oiler, because if anyone on the 2015-16 roster deserved it, it was him.

Taylor Hall is too good for the Oilers, and they never deserved him anyway. It’s been a hell of a ride, and I wish him nothing but the best in New Jersey.

Farewell, Taylor – thanks for the memories.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0ISXWdXEgc?rel=0]