Taylor Hall for PK Subban?

Wow, I go to bed and all is well in the land of hockey. I wake up to see a million blogs and podcasts talking about PK Subban and how he’s the problem with the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs are struggling and it’s all his fault because he slipped and coughed up the puck vs. the Avs and they scored a GWG off of that mistake.

The problem with the Canadiens is no more PK Subban than it is Max Pacioretty, Brendan Gallagher, Tomas Plekanec or Alex Galchenyuk. It’s Michael Therrien. He’s lost his team. Plain and Simple. Penguins fans know what’s happening here. And if you think that Geoff Molson (Habs Owner) is going to OK a trade of the guy he just went to bat for, you’re insane. Not to mention the fact that Subban just donated $10 Million dollars to a children’s hospital in Montreal. They have to fire Therrien before jettisoning ANY of their players, let alone their best player at the moment.

I guarantee you that if Carey Price is healthy this is all for naught.

Now with all of that said and as I mentioned before, I listened to a few Oilers related podcasts and radio shows today already and I’ve gleaned over the most notable Oilers blogs mentioning this PK Subban nonsense. Let me lay down some quotes for you so you don’t have to travel the oilogosphere searching.

Lowetide

• The Oilers are going to be in on this
• Taylor Hall may be the ask
• Teams may settle on Nuge and Nurse
• Habs might ask for Leon Draisaitl
• Nuge, Nurse, and Nail for Subban and Eller.

Habs about to doing something dumb, Oil have to be in on PK, Nail is a good man in the wrong town https://t.co/vSJTtNp4bY #Oilers

— Lowetide (@Lowetide) February 19, 2016

David Staples

• Edmonton is in a position to move fast, even if other teams aren’t. Edmonton has numerous pieces that could be moved for Subban, essentially anyone on the team not named Connor McDavid. This also includes Edmonton’s first pick in the 2016 entry draft, an outstanding trading chip.
• Most likely Subban will stay in Montreal and those aligned against him will be moved out.

https://twitter.com/dstaples/status/700803390868058112

Jonathan Willis

• Outside of Connor McDavid, there isn’t a player on the Oilers’ roster who would be more important to the team than P.K. Subban if Subban were magically to appear in the system.
• If he legitimately becomes available—and I’m skeptical that he would—the Oilers would need to make a legitimate offer, with no player other than McDavid absolutely off-limits, including people like Taylor Hall, Leon Draisaitl, Oscar Klefbom and Darnell Nurse.

https://twitter.com/jonathanwillis/status/700743377181089792

Alex Thomas

• He’s arguably the best defender in the NHL and he’s easily Montreal’s best player, yes better than Carey Price.
• The deal I propose would be the following:

  To Montreal: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, 2016 1st round pick, Darnell Nurse

  To Edmonton: PK Subban, Lars Eller, 2016 second round pick

What what I give up for PK Subban? Anyone not named McDavid, seriously. #Oilers

— Alex Thomas (@AlexThomasHWP) February 19, 2016

Elliotte Friedman (Oilers Now)

• You know it’s got to be a trade you look at and say we (Montreal) win.
• I think the only way they’d ever trade him is if the deal is so good that your fans would have to say, “You know what? We really hate to lose this guy but that’s a heck of a deal.”
• Nobody is untouchable but I do think that some players are close to untouchable and he’s (Subban) one.
• I’m not convinced you guys (Oilers) could offer enough.
• You are not getting out of this without (offering) at least two of Hall, Draisaitl, Nurse, and Klefbom.
• I like Klefbom and Nurse but do they have Subban’s ceiling?
• If I was Bergevin I’d ask for both of them (Klefbom and Nurse) and Hall or both of them and Draisaitl.
• If I was the Edmonton Oilers and I got the 1st overall pick. Boy, I’ll tell you, I’m not sure if I’m dealing that for PK Subban.
• You’re losing 8 years and you’re adding $9 million onto your cap. You might look at it now and say that’s a good deal (1st overall for Subban) but in five years are you going to be looking at it, as good as Connor McDavid is and what you’ve already go there, are you going to be looking at that and saying, “Boy, we really gave up an Auston Matthews in his prime?”

So there you have it. Some notable names in the Oilers media/blogging community have had their say. The conclusion: Go get that Mad Hatter.

What Does BLH Think?

I think IF the Oilers could strike a deal to get Subban, you do it. Now would I pay the suggested price that Elliotte Friedman is suggesting?… I don’t think I would do that unless a Hamonic deal was in place as well. Losing Klefbom and Nurse is a big hit. Losing Hall, I’m not so worried about that.

Here’s my thought train on the Oilers roster going forth.

This year’s draft is chalked full of elite wingers in the top 5, where the Oilers should be picking. If the Oilers can snag Patrik Laine, Jesse Puljujarvi or Auston Matthews, that to me makes Taylor Hall expendable, thus freeing up $6 million dollars in cap room. I’d much rather keep Ryan Nugent-Hopkins than Taylor Hall at this point. I feel that center depth is infinitely more important than depth on the wing and what has been the biggest complaint for the last 5 years say? If you said the Oilers defence you win!!!

So the Oilers should be a team moving forward to rebuild it’s defence and re-tooling its makeup. Chiarelli did it with Boston, so there’s no reason to believe that he won’t do it in Edmonton. With the pieces he has, surely he’ll get the job done. I think if you ask most folks how many players the team is away from becoming a true competitive team, they might say two or three but the caveat being that those players be on defence. The rest would probably say that the team has too many skilled players and not enough meat and potato guys.

Jordan Eberle is seemingly clicking with McDavid, as is Pouliot and I think it’s pertinent to keep them and keep them together. Scoring is hard enough as it is. With that being said, Hall is on another one of his weird droughts and I’m not sure if Draisaitl is suffering from that or is also in a slump. To me, Hall is another Rick Nash, Marian Gaborik, Ilya Kovalchuk, or even Tyler Seguin but the difference is The Oilers will survive if they move on without him. Having McDavid, Draisaitl, and RNH down the spine could ensure that the way Thornton, Couture, and Pavelski did in San Jose or to a greater extent and often exhausted example, Crosby, Malkin, Staal did in Pittsburgh.

I will probably die a lonely death on this hill but I will go down swinging nonetheless. I believe that the Oilers will find success when at least two of Hall, Yakupov, or RNH are playing on another team. And in my own ignorance, I find Nugent-Hopkins to be more of a keeper than the other two.

I just think you can’t pilfer off your best two-way center, a potentially elite winger (1st rounder in 2016), a struggling former 1st overall, and your best defenceman to get Subban.

• The Oilers cannot go into the 2016/17 season with two centers under the age of 21 leading the march. There must be depth and the 2016 FA crop isn’t looking promising in that regards unless you feel like making a pitch for Stamkos, Staal, Backes, or Sam Gagner…
• As Friedman said, you mustn’t give up 8 team controlled years of an elite prospect for 7 years of $9 million dollars per season.

I reckon you take your greatest bargaining chip, put it forward and do your best with that. The Oilers player with the highest value is Taylor Hall.

Would I trade Taylor Hall to the Habs for PK Subban? I would. I would’ve done it years ago when Subban was going through his rocky contract negotiations. Would I add to the deal? I would. I would give them ONE of the either Klefbom or Nurse because they’d have to get a defender back. If I was pushed on Yakupov I’d be willing to move him but something would have to come back. A 2nd round draft pick possibly. The armchair GM in me would ask for Charles Hudon, Nikita Scherbak or Mike McCarron but that seems too much in this case.

Now I’m sure you’re already saying I’m nuts and there’s a solid possibility you’ve already closed the page but consider this. PK Subban is arguably the best defenceman in the league and if he’s not the best, he’s in the top three. Taylor Hall isn’t in the top three of left wingers in the game right now. He might not be in the top five or the top ten depending who you ask.

I think the lingering question with the Oilers is, where would this team be if it was healthy? Would we even be considering trading our young stars if this team was in a competitive spot in the standings? And considering that all of our young scorers, apart from McDavid, have gone through considerable scoring slumps, how important are they really?

But the most important question for you as an Oilers fan to ask yourself is when these rumors come along is… Would the Oilers have a better chance at the playoffs with player A or with player B? In this case insert the names of PK Subban and Taylor Hall.