OilFans.com :: Fan Forum: Oilers => Oilers Trade Hall to Devils for Larsson

Guest

This day on May 10
None

Happy Birthday To: apophis, Oiler_Kiwi, Oiler_Kiwi_2003, tat88, rnrh, JeffersonM43, joeclark

OILERS INFO OILFANS
Friday, May 10, 2024 2:50 PM MT

F.A.Q.

Members

Home

Oilers » Oilers Trade Hall to Devils for Larsson

Pages (16): [ « < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 > »]

Re: Oilers Trade Hall to Devils for Larsson [message #674177 is a reply to message #674145 ]	Thu, 30 June 2016 11:09

rjayd2
Messages: 20
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton

No Cups

Some perspective for those still upset over the deal:

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/16640561/nhl-blockbuster-t rades-involving-montreal-canadiens-nashville-predators-edmon ton-oilers-new-jersey-devils

"If Bergevin thought he was getting it hard from his fans in Montreal, Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli might have it worse, given the reaction of fans over his dealing of Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Adam Larsson.

Which is why it's interesting when I got this reaction from a Western Conference hockey exec about the Oilers making that move: "Guys want a fixed cost moving forward, I don't blame them."

That fixed cost is Larsson being signed for five more years at a $4.16 million cap hit. That's a great contract as long as Larsson actually lives up to being a top-end blueliner.

I think this is a solid acquisition by Chiarelli. Larsson is underrated. But at the cost of a bona fide scoring star such as Hall? It's an overpay by any definition.

"But if any team can overpay from one of their forwards, it's Edmonton," said another Western Conference exec.

The Oilers would have preferred to trade Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Jordan Eberle instead for Larsson, but Devils GM Ray Shero had no interest in those players. It was Hall or bust.

Of course, the Oilers talked to the St. Louis Blues about Kevin Shattenkirk, but they knew he wouldn't re-sign in Edmonton after his deal expired in a year. The Subban talks with Montreal never got to a point where it made sense for Edmonton.

"There are almost no defensemen out there for a trade," said an Eastern Conference exec, explaining why the Oilers' deal for Larsson makes sense on some level.

"I definitely wasn't looking to trade Adam Larsson," Shero said over the phone Wednesday night. "But I may never get a chance again to get Taylor Hall."

Interestingly, when Shero and Chiarelli took over their respective clubs a year ago, they actually chatted and in some ways planted the seed for this type of deal. They recognized early on that the Devils needed forwards and the Oilers needed defensemen, and that one day they might help each other out.

But they needed time to get to know their teams first.

The reality is that Shero and Chiarelli didn't really get going on this deal until the past week after they both reconnected in Buffalo at the draft.

Shero, after being relayed the heat that his counterpart was taking in the wake of the trade in Edmonton, shed light on Larsson, a player that most Oilers fans obviously haven't watched play much before: "I know one thing, if you look, Adam Larsson and Andy Greene had the toughest quality of competition in the entire league this year. And the worst zone starts. They were matched up against the best players every night. ...

"Adam is a heavy player, he's hard down low. He's an unbelievable pro at his age. He's an easy guy to coach and play with. Maybe people don't know him, but he's a good guy to build a defense around. We're going to have a hole there with him gone for sure."

From the sounds of it Chiarelli did very well considered the horrendous position he was placed in by previous management of this team. Labelling this trade as horrendous and mismanaged is completely asinine given the situation and you'd have to be fool to not recognize that he actually did well considering the circumstances.

Just curious what was the better option you'd go for if you still don't agree after reading that?