Edmonton Trades Taylor Hall To New Jersey

First reported by Bob McKenzie of TSN, the Edmonton Oilers and New Jersey Devils have completed a deal that will see winger Taylor Hall change teams. In return, the Devils will send Adam Larsson the other way.  It is a one-for-one deal, only including the two young stars.

The Oilers have been long rumored to be chasing a long-term defensive piece, and Elliotte Friedman adds that there was talk of a Hall for Larsson deal at the draft last weekend. Of course, when Jesse Puljujarvi fell to the Oilers with the fourth selection, they couldn’t convince themselves to draft a defenseman.

With the glut of young forwards that Edmonton now has they would be wise to deal one of them, however Hall looks like perhaps the best one not named McDavid. His 65 point 2015-16 season was excellent, and he’s now put up 328 points in 381 games.

In Larsson, the Oilers get an excellent young blueliner that is still locked up long-term. The 23-year old is signed through the 2020-21 season at a reasonable $4.17MM rate. While he’s not quite the shutdown number one guy many people thought that Hall would command, he is a young top-pairing defenseman who the Oilers so desperately needed.  This may lend more credence to the idea that Milan Lucic has already agreed to a contract, as the Oilers completed this deal quickly after his Monday visit.

For the Devils, they get another young powerhouse talent to add to their forward group alongside Adam Henrique, Kyle Palmieri and Pavel Zacha. With a young corps of defensemen still under contract, Larsson was deemed expendable in order to get this kind of talent. First impressions are an absolute robbery by the Devils, who have more than enough room to add a top talent on a $6MM/year deal.