RDOilerfan wrote on Wed, 05 April 2017 16:38

Scott Cullen. Big time TSN Advanced stats guy and kind of an Oiler hater was debating with some Oiler fans last night about how bad the Hal trade still is. Some of the things he said was the impact of Hall on the Devils was way, way, way more this season than Larsson on the Oilers. If you look at the Devils this season after adding Hall. They are way worse defensively this year than last year. They are going to finish way less in overall points than they were last year. Offensively. Hall was brought in to boost the offense. With 3 games left, the Devils have scored 8 goals less than they did all last season. Given they are scoring at a 2.22 goals per game clip this season. Just to tie last years total, they are going to have to score higher than their season average. Oh yea, Hall's made a BIG difference. Larsson was brought in to be a big, physical, hard to play against, right shot dman to help shore up the defense. Larsson is mean, nasty, brutal to play against, has 243 hits in 76 games and is a plus 18. In addtion, the Oilers have improved by 71 goals. They were -42 last year and +29 this year. Now its not all Larsson but he has done more than what he was brought in to do. Best thing said. Matt Henderson, Oilers blogger and Hall trade hater chimed in. "Hall is the best player on the Devils, Larsson is 4th in ice time." Larsson gets no PP time, while Sekara and Klefbom get lots. Take that into account and their mins are almost the same. If you go look at the Devils line up. Saying Hall is the best player isn't saying much. Their line up is brutal.

If your best player by a good margin is a 1-dimensional winger, I think your team is gonna suck :)

I think the real debate is how much the oilers actually miss Hall. Hall was really having trouble clicking with anyone for a year plus until he and Drai meshed for a couple months. Drai really saved Hall last season from having 3 ~60 point pace seasons in a row, which, adjusted for his usual 10 or so games of injury a season, make him a guy that brings 50-60 points to your team a year when getting all the prime offensive ice time. I'm only taking the last 3 years into account of course. He managed 80 in his offensive productivity prime. But, he said himself last year, he has started playing more cautious after his last injury a few years ago, and, IMO, he really needs to be taking the big risks with his body to generate the chances he needs to be an elite contributor on paper.

I honestly don't think he would have helped us that much this year. Maybe if McDavid got injured, but that didn't happen, and next year hopefully Pulju can be a contributor that could help in such a situation. And lots of discussion here about how Nuge has been held down, how many more points would Nuge/Ebs put up if they got all that prime ice time McDavid's line gets? We have lots of forwards in this organisation, and there is only so much ice time to go around, and so much time where you're leaning offensively.

We have spent probably double the amount of time this year as last season with a lead, that lends itself to more defensive play, and McLellan really does coach players to bottle up with a lead. We don't play all out all the time offensive hockey like the Pens do. Maybe some of us with we did, and maybe Hall could have helped more in that kind of game plan, but that's a whole other discussion then, because they we would have to dump McLellan too and find another coach to have created the environment where Hall could have actually provided some incremental improvement (and maybe he still wouldn't have in that case compared to the guys we already have).


Many factors to consider, but in my head, I honestly don't think we miss Hall much. The glut of forwards on the team made it possible to move him in a deal we lost on paper, but one that has let us play the way McLellan wants the team to play and succeed, and the results have been surprisingly good. And the loss, I think the value of Larsson and Hall will be getting closer each year, and eventually NJD will just having nothing to show for the trade aside from a pick/prospect when they have to trade pending UFA Hall, and I bet we end up extending Larsson.

And of course there is the whole personality thing, and keeping a healthy dressing room that we have have based on personal opinion and hearsay, but I think I've encouraged that kind of stuff to death on here already :)




Interesting stat on the topic of playing with a lead. Last season we played with a lead 5v5 for 843 mins. we allowed 3.42 goals against per 60 mins in that situation, by far the worst in the NHL. Next closest was Carolina who let in 3.00 GA/60.

This year, we've played with the lead for 1257 mins 5v5 (so 67% more time than last year at 5v5). And we are 3rd best now at not allowing goals, we have allowed 1.91 GA/60 this year with a lead 5v5.

[Updated on: Wed, 05 April 2017 18:05]

"We need to get better immediately. That starts today"
- Lowe, 2013

"Next year I would forecast as another developmental year"
- MacT, 2015

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