On Tuesday June 29th the Oilers traded Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils for right handed shooting defenceman Adam Larsson. They then countered this trade on Canada Day by bringing in arguably the top free agent forward in Milan Lucic. Reactions to these moves have been mixed to say the least. The Oilers got their D-man but the cost was enormous when going back in the deal was a former 1st overall pick in Taylor Hall.
The Trade
When I said reaction was mixed, I meant it. Around 1 pm on that fateful day my phone exploded with texts, phone calls and of course social media notifications, the like of which I’ve never seen. Even when the Oilers won the McLottery a year and a bit ago, while busy, it was nothing like the reaction to the Taylor Hall trade.
A quick visit to twitter told you all you needed to know. The fan base was completely split. Half of the people were celebrating that Hall was no longer an Oiler, the other half furious over the perceived lack of return for one of the Oilers best players.
Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli mentioned that it was a tough move for him to make in acquiring the young defenceman from New Jersey. Knowing that Larsson wasn’t the “Sexy name” everyone had been hoping for, but adding that he feels like he’s added a player that can play big minutes against the toughest opponents. He also said that it’s “a need that I felt was significant and again that’s the bottom line on this transaction.”
There it is folks.
The need outweighed the want in this case. After my initial WTF reaction, and listening and reading about this defenceman I admittedly don’t know to much about, I’m pretty happy with the player the Oilers got back. Larsson is going to be a good soldier for the Oilers for a long time.
The Signing
Following the crazy Wednesday trade all the talk was about the potential signing of free agent winger Milan Lucic. The writing was on the wall. Looch has a relationship with the Oilers GM. He visited the city and toured the new Rogers Place arena. The majority of media insiders were basically calling the signing a done deal.
Well free agency began Friday at 10am local time and at 10:01am the deal was announced and the ink was on the paper. Again my phone began buzzing and twitter erupted in a hail of both praise and vitriol.
“We’ve replaced Hall.”
“He’s too old and look at that huge contract.”
“Where’s that other defenceman.”
“The Oilers are better now.”
“The Oilers are worse now.”
Again the fans reaction was split down the middle – equal parts ecstatic and fuming.
My Rant
The Moves
Originally when the Oilers traded Hall I was gutted. I could not believe that Larsson was the only piece coming back. Hall is one of the top offensive point producers in the league. Adam Larsson, while I admittedly don’t know much of him, is touted as a very good stay at home style defender. There might possibly be some more offense there but we’ll have to wait and see how that plays out.
The simple fact is, no matter how good Larsson is he’ll, unfairly, always be compared to Taylor Hall. Even if Larsson is as good as the Oilers are hyping him up to be he isn’t the player that was supposed to be the beginning of a rebuild meant to turn the franchise around. In reality that’s most likely not fair to Larsson, but these are adults we’re talking about and he will need to learn how to deal with pressure from the outside whether fair or not.
I really like the signing of Milan Lucic, but the man is not a straight replacement for Hall. I don’t think we’ll see Milan produce a the nearly point per game clip Hall was at. That being said, Lucic is a different player and does change the dynamic of the team a bit. However, changing out one left winger for another isn’t going to turn the franchise around in a day, which is what some people are hyping. Ultimately I would have liked to see the Oilers sign Lucic and keep Taylor Hall in the fold.
These moves may very well be talked about for the next decade. Larsson and Lucic compared to Hall. Unless this team’s performance improves on the ice (read: playoffs immediately), then these moves will have been for naught.
The Fans
There has been a tonne of hate travelling through social media. A multitude of varying opinions can do that, but (and I say this in kindness) come ON people. When you have a fan base as committed as we are to the Oilers it is fine to let emotions become involved. Like I said, when Hall was traded I was gutted.
I’ve been back and forth on my opinion of Hall in the last few years. The rumors about his character and how he is in the locker room, his play and the idea that he gave up on his team often are all things I’ve tossed around. Then I thought about that long and hard.
First of all, why the hell do I care what Hall does when he’s not on the ice? I and we shouldn’t care if he wasn’t nice to a friend of your cousin’s friend’s sister. Oh, he didn’t sign an autograph for you while in the mall? Maybe he just finished signing 50 autos for people a few minutes before you got there. Uh Oh, Hall had a few beers at a local watering hole….Call the cops. Just think about it for a second – what would you do if you were handed 42 million dollars when you’re 20 years old? I’d probably be dead.
Secondly, none of us know enough about Adam Larsson to say he’s going to be a bust. There is a chance that he’ll be great and there is a chance that he’ll be a bust. It’s the way it goes, we as fans just have to deal with it.
Thirdly – why can’t we all just get along?Stop telling people to get over things and stop throwing hate when you have a different opinion than someone else. Argue if you must, but be respectful. If you know you’re going to get scrappy about something then don’t bother getting involved at all. When a conversation goes sideways, just stop talking. It really is that simple folks.
Whether or not you trust management to build a winning team, the common factor with all of us is that we ALL love this team. Sure, 10 years of losing will do this to a fan base, but it’s time to stop this infighting. One day our team will start winning and when that happens a lot of this will be forgotten and we can all be friends again.
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