Taylor Hall – Breaking Bad?

There is an elephant in the room, a chink in the armour, a crack in the foundation. However you want to put it there seems like there is a problem brewing. That problem starts and ends with Taylor Hall.

This was tweeted today from Bruce McCurdy:

Taylor Hall, paraphrased from @OilersNow: “I don’t watch hockey these days, it makes me bitter seeing teams higher up in standings winning”

The responses were as such…

Carson Mills ‏@MetalorIkea7h oof

David Shortt ‏@AdMan08287h Sounds like a precursor to a tweet from TSN that starts with “BREAKING…” #Gulp

ScrotoBaggins ‏@ScrotoB7h attitude is everything. That one isn’t helping him become better.

Jason Adams ‏@WJAYADAMS7h Less pouting, less toedrags, more doing what it takes to win hockey games. No sympathy.

Jody Serner ‏@Jodes977h GETTING THE MESSAGE MAC T and KEVIN LOWE? When your STAR is BITTER.. That’s a problem!

When I saw it, it brought a few thoughts to mind, ones not unlike those above. But the biggest thought I had was what happens once a relationship has started to sour? In my experience it’s a hard road to travel back to where the relationship once was. And this is where my concern is rooted. What is happening between him and the Oilers?

Taylor Hall is such a stud of a hockey player. He is exactly what you need out of your best player. Fast, a little bit of edge, skill and a motor that doesn’t stop. But if I said that in my eyes it appears as though the shine has been lost a little would anyone argue much against me saying that? Here is a guy who has won at every level. He the champion and leader of 2 memorial cups, the glory of 1st overall, the accolades given for the immense talent that he possesses. It’s all still there but something seems amiss. And today providede one more shred of negative energy to the whole mess that is the Oilers this season. The quote is one of a couple quotes from him and there is also an outsider comment that are giving the feeling in my gut a little bit of a sinking? Is Taylor Hall starting to question his desire to remain an integral part of the Edmonton Oilers?

The two quotes I speak of are the one that was just mentioned and another one from earlier in the season when after one of the many to come home stinkers, Hall declared his disdain for the booing that fans had delivered to the team after a sound spanking. At the time it kind of rubbed me the wrong way but I didn’t think to much about it. Losing is tough, and I imagine even tougher when the fans boo you. Shrug it off right? C’est la vie?

The comment I speak of, erroneous and as baseless as it may be, was posted on Lowetide’s site a couple of weeks back. A reader posted a comment that he had heard on the mean streets of Kingston, or through people he knows there, and that comment said Hall had been musing to family and friends that if the losing continued through to the end of the season he’d be open to moving from the Oilers (I’d credit the source of this rumour but I can’t find it at Lowetide’s). Now before you get all up in arms hear me out. I don’t believe the rumour entirely. Stuff like this is the currency of fools. But sometimes things like this can turn out to be something. It makes me worry.

It’s the elephant in the room because there doesn’t seem to be to much appetite for fans to discuss this topic even though it is sitting heavy in the air surrounding us. Since the interview and subsequent tweet from McCurdy I haven’t seen one mention of it. And what that tells me is that we are avoiding it. People generally don’t like to talk about the difficult things. And this… this could be a very difficult thing if it get legs.

What do you think?

Feel free to share some banter with me on twitter, @borisnikov, be it hockey or otherwise.