By now, if you haven’t heard the Elliotte Friedman quotes regarding Taylor Hall’s potential summer plans, you must be living under a rock. The Edmonton Oilers have been long-linked to Hall since he was traded to New Jersey back in 2016. Anybody who’s consistently listened to the daily radio show, Oilers Now, since then can attest to the fact that the host, Bob Stauffer, has hinted at a return for some time now. And even at this blog, we’ve been writing about it.
Also, for what it’s worth, I was sent a message yesterday saying that things are more serious now in Edmonton regarding their pursuit of the former Hart Trophy winner.
I had my issues with Hall when he was an Oiler. I thought he was egotistical, selfish, childish, and was irresponsible at that time. Since then though, my stance has softened on him. The trade forced him to grow up and the mature Hall is much more palpable for me. I always thought he was one of the league’s most dynamic and dangerous player though. That’s never changed. I know some of you might be thinking that the change in opinion has to do with the MVP he won a couple of years back and you’re wrong. I think he only won that because his backup goalie went on a heater and got the team into the playoffs. Had they missed the post-season that year, he wouldn’t have been the MVP.
So getting back to this supposed return, I think there’s a sentiment out there that Hall is open to a return to City of Champions to finish what they started all those years ago and that’s fine. It’s a wonderful story and for at least one season until RNH went UFA, the Oilers would have the best top-six in the NHL.
My problem with this idea is that the team would be WAY to top-heavy. Think about it. If Hall returned next season, he’d be coming in on a big ticket, right? Thus, sacrifices would have to be made. The general thought is that the team would move Russell and Larsson, therefore freeing up $8M dollars or so, but the problem with that is, we’re back to square one when Hall was with the team before. A top-heavy team with a couple of older capable defensemen. Sure, Bouchard, Jones, Bear, and Lagesson would be there, but it doesn’t concern anybody that those young players would be tasked with holding the fort with assumably Darnell Nurse and Oscar Klefbom?
With young players comes bigger peaks and valleys. The key to success is organizational balance. Yes, Hall would drive play and the more possession the team has in the other team’s end, the less defending it has to do. That said, the team still has to defend from time to time and you don’t want the opposition scoring every time.
I posed the question on Twitter the other day, if money was equal and the Oilers could have one of Taylor Hall, Roman Josi, or Alex Pietrangelo, who would you pick? All three have expiring contracts this summer. The majority of the great Oilers fans who replied said Hall and I respect that, but I’d argue vehemently that Pietrangelo is the guy you’d want if the idea is to become a consistent contender for the Stanley Cup for years to come.
I truly feel that with an elite top-pairing of say Klefbom and Pietrangelo followed by Nurse and perhaps one of Evan Bouchard or Ethan Bear, would be the sturdy base to which the Oilers could build another great dynasty upon. I’m just not sold on playing four rookie defensemen just so the team can scrape a little bit of money together to further pad the forwards. Not only that, but I have more confidence in Pietrangelo staying healthy in that time frame than Hall.
Now, I get that the likelihood of Pietrangelo becoming an Oiler is about as realistic as Milan Lucic being a 50-goal scorer, but you get the gist, right?
Should the Oilers want to upgrade their top-six or top-nine forwards, they’ve got plenty of ammo down in Bakersfield that they could use. I mean, apart from just recalling a player like Tyler Benson or Kailer Yamamoto, Dmitri Samorukov is one defender that a lot of teams have interest in and he could bring in a skilled forward via trade. Caleb Jones could as well, I believe. It just depends on how the Oilers want to go in the post-Kris Russell era.
I do, however, have time for David Staples’ idea of a Hossa-like signing with Hall.
Jesse Puljujarvi
This guy can’t stop scoring in Finland and IT’S AMAZING!!! It’s what he’s been doing at the AHL level for two years prior to this one. All he needed was some confidence in himself, his teammates, and his coaches. Oh, and not to be converted into a 3rd line checker…
PULJUU GOAL!!!
(Anybody else know why Puljujarvi even bothers scoring goals anymore? It's not like any of them would even have a hope in hell of beating a REAL NHL goalie like Henrik Lundqvist or Jonathan Quick… What? You mean he's already scored on them?)@nielsonTSN1260 https://t.co/937XCTr1ws
— BLH (Edmonton Oilers Enthusiast} (@BeerLeagueHeroe) October 17, 2019
On Insider Trading, Darren Dreger said that the… Wait for it… Carolina Hurricanes are looking to shore up their top-9 and they’re kicking tires on Josh Ho-Sang and Puljujarvi.
If the Hurricanes’ offer is still Julien Gauthier, then Carolina can go get Ho-Sang in my opinion. My eyes are on Martin Necas in any Puljujarvi negotiations. That’d be a tough deal to make for the Hurricanes as Necas has five points in eight games to start the year, but it should be a tough deal for any team to acquire Pulju.
Going a different direction on JP for a moment. Does anybody else think that there might be a chance that Holland is trying to get the Big Finn to change his mind and come back to Edmonton?
Oilers 5-0, lead Western Conference
McDavid (4-8-12), Draisaitl (4-7-11), 1-2 in NHL Scoring
Neal 7 G/5 PPG leads NHL in G and PPG…
PP-2nd 41.2%
PK-2nd 94.1%And the Oilers last 4 #1 picks "ripening"
Broberg-Skelleftea
Bouchard-Bako
Yamamoto-Bako
Puljujarvi-Karpat— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) October 13, 2019
When I see tweets like this, it makes me wonder a bit. If Jesse is widely thought to never be an Oiler again, why mention him with Edmonton’s other blue-chip prospects?
Then you have the GM of the Oilers saying that “You treat people with respect & as you go forward things might change, things might not change, but you don’t want to burn bridges.” It just makes me think that Holland’s price isn’t what other teams are willing to pay (yet) and with the way the team is playing and this new style, that Puljujarvi returning to the team wouldn’t be the worst thing for everyone involved.
If Jesse can come back and spark some much-needed offense in the Oilers’ bottom-six, that would go a long way in upping his trade value. It would also make Holland’s job that much easier.
*Sigh* Along with my Pietrangelo idea, Jesse coming back to Edmonton is probably just a pipe dream though.
Oh! Quickly, to take this full circle. Friedman did say that he felt that the Devils wouldn’t wait until the trade deadline to take advantage of a Hall trade. Puljujarvi’s NHL-out clause is December 1st… You’d have to imagine that if Edmonton were to trade for Hall that Pulju would have to be apart of that trade, right?
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
