The Edmonton Oilers fired coach Dallas Eakins and replaced him with general manager Craig MacTavish, who will then shortly be replaced by the Oilers former coach of their AHL affiliate, the Oklahoma City Barons, Todd Nelson.
A team in flux facing an already failed season is rumored to be interested in shipping out some, most or damn near all of their major parts. Of course, some members of the core, like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, will remain off-limits.
Until recently, that off-limits designation had extended to young phenom, Taylor Hall. But that changed after reports emerged that Hall's personality was part of the reason for the toxic Oiler locker room culture.
A couple of teams in the Eastern Conference apparently haven't been scared off either by Hall's potential price tag or his partially tarnished reputation.
"And as Pierre LeBrun reported on Insider Trading, he believes that there are two primary teams who would have considerable interest, and that's Boston and Pittsburgh. Can you imagine Taylor Hall on the wing with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin," said TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger on a recent episode of Toronto's TSN 1050 as transcribed by NicholsOnHockey.com.
The return on such a deal, while jarring for most Edmonton fans, might not be so bad.
"The return for Taylor Hall in the off-season - very unlikely you can make a deal like this happen in-season. Maybe at the deadline, but this is a draft floor deal. Who's kidding who? It would be significant."
Meanwhile, LeBrun, while appearing on a separate segment of the same show, reiterated the potentially lucrative nature of a Hall deal - as well as the other deals, for Jordan Eberle and David Perron, the Oilers have considered this season - but cautioned that it would be difficult for Pittsburgh or Boston to pull it off in-season.
"I think Hall easily nets you the biggest package. But I don't know how you do that mid-season," LeBrun said. "I don't really see the market developing enough for it where you have bidders in terms of what you're looking to get. I think June is a great time for those type of deals."
In an ironic twist that will, no doubt, upset Bruins fans currently facing the reality of their team's stunted offensive production this season, LeBrun points to the Tyler Seguin trade as an example of a trade market that needed time to incubate before fully developing in the off-season.
