When the Edmonton Oilers fired general manager Peter Chiarelli on Wednesday in the midst of his fourth season, the laundry list of poor moves became of focal point of his downfall.
At the top of that list: trading Taylor Hall to the Devils for Adam Larsson.
That June 2016 trade didn’t turn out all bad for the Oilers, who still have Larsson as one of their top defensemen — a glaring need at the time of the deal — and the Devils’ fourth overall pick from the 2011 NHL Draft can still be part of the solution in Edmonton.
But when looking at what Hall has done in New Jersey, it’s tough for Oilers fans to think what could have been.
Hall won the Hart Trophy as the NHL MVP in 2017-18, leading the Devils back to the postseason, and he remains as one of the game’s top offensive players. With Connor McDavid still in Edmonton, it’s easy to imagine what those two could have done together beyond one season in McDavid’s rookie campaign in 2015-16.