3 reasons why the Edmonton Oilers lost the Taylor Hall trade

2. Milan Lucic doesn’t change a thing

According to rumors, the Oilers were interested in trading Taylor Hall because they also had interest in signing forward Milan Lucic. Even if the Oilers manage to add Lucic, that doesn’t change anything about how the trade should be viewed. In fact, if anything it should hurt how it is viewed.

Hall and Lucic are not radioactive elements. They are allowed to co-exist on the same team. Signing Lucic does not begin to justify trading Hall for so little. If the Oilers got a solid return for Hall, like Shattenkirk, then adding Lucic might help a little bit. But the Oilers are significantly worse off today than they were before, and they will be worse off even if they sign Lucic.

Why not keep both? Trade Jordan Eberle or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Sure, they are great talents who would be missed, but they aren’t the franchise leader that Hall was. If the Oilers had to trade one of their forwards for a defenseman, Eberle or Hopkins were good options. Trading Hall never did and never will make sense, especially not for Larsson.

Props to the Devils for taking advantage of Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli, who now has the dubious distinction of trading both Hall AND Tyler Seguin.

Next: 1. Oilers are gambling