Oilers Unlucky

[Future]

Who would want to play for the Leafs? Where the fans come in droves to pelt you with waffles, and Stanley Cups are as rare as unicorns.

Never short of a game-time snack in T.O.

 

[McNuge]

I hardly see how people are saying Hall is better than JT, look at him play one game and you will see why he is projected to be the next "great one". And Hall should not have been the first overall IMO, it should have been Skinner. Take a look at both of their teams last year, Windsor was stacked in every position while Kitchener was good in every position, the point if look back to the 7 games where it was Kitchener vs Windsor and look how bad Skinner out played the entire team. He made Hall look like an average player.

 

[Eytinge]

I hardly see how people are saying Hall is better than JT, look at him play one game and you will see why he is projected to be the next "great one". And Hall should not have been the first overall IMO, it should have been Skinner. Take a look at both of their teams last year, Windsor was stacked in every position while Kitchener was good in every position, the point if look back to the 7 games where it was Kitchener vs Windsor and look how bad Skinner out played the entire team. He made Hall look like an average player.

Um...most Cane fans will admit Hall still deserved to go first overall.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

I hardly see how people are saying Hall is better than JT, look at him play one game and you will see why he is projected to be the next "great one". And Hall should not have been the first overall IMO, it should have been Skinner. Take a look at both of their teams last year, Windsor was stacked in every position while Kitchener was good in every position, the point if look back to the 7 games where it was Kitchener vs Windsor and look how bad Skinner out played the entire team. He made Hall look like an average player.

Hall was the best player on the best team in Juniors....didn't get fed minutes either

back to back Memorial Cup MVPs...including one as a 17 year old

Hall>>>>>>Skinner anyday of the week

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

Hall was the best player on the best team in Juniors....didn't get fed minutes either

back to back Memorial Cup MVPs...including one as a 17 year old

Hall>>>>>>Skinner anyday of the week

I agree, hall will be a much better player than skinner. Its the same thing as last year when everyone was saying how much better duchene was than tavares. Players like skinner benefited from their situation a lot more than hall. Hell, the way a lot of fans think, people were probably saying "wow, the oilers should have taken that guy #1" after seguin had 2 good games.

 

[Future]

I agree, hall will be a much better player than skinner. Its the same thing as last year when everyone was saying how much better duchene was than tavares. Players like skinner benefited from their situation a lot more than hall. Hell, the way a lot of fans think, people were probably saying "wow, the oilers should have taken that guy #1" after seguin had 2 good games.

Hall was on the first line for the majority of the year. How did Skinner benefit from his situation. I had seasons tickets to the Rangers and I watched him all year and was more impressed with him than Hall.

 

[La Bamba]

Hall was on the first line for the majority of the year. How did Skinner benefit from his situation. I had seasons tickets to the Rangers and I watched him all year and was more impressed with him than Hall.

Hall was up against the other teams top players and defenders while Skinner was playing soft minutes for the Canes. Skinner had a better rookie season but Hall will likely surpass him next year.

 

[Forgot About Drai]

Man, getting injured can sure make you fall is some people eyes. It wasn't a couple months ago when Hall edged out Tavares in a poll. #whathaveyoudoneformelately

 

[Roof Daddy]

I think people need to understand that for Hall's junior success/game to translate to the NHL he's going to need some extra muscle. He's probably 195-200 right now. I think he can/will play at 215. When that happens, we'll see a lot more puck battles in front of the net won which will result in more dirty goals. Couple that with lethal speed, great one-on-one moves and a very good release on a heavy shot and we're looking at a perennial 40-40 guy with a shot at cracking 50 goals or 100pts maybe once or twice in his prime.

 

[Wheatking]

Hall was on the first line for the majority of the year. How did Skinner benefit from his situation. I had seasons tickets to the Rangers and I watched him all year and was more impressed with him than Hall.

Hall played on the second line. Hemsky and Penner were our first line wingers.

It's pretty easy to see that both had some advantages over the other. Hall averaged 1:29 more ice time per game but 27 seconds less on the powerplay. Skinner played on the second line with Ruutu(57 points) and one of Jokinen(52 points), Cole(52 points) and LaRose(31 points). Hall played on the second line with Eberle(43 points) and one of Gagner(42 points), Horcoff(27 points) and Cogliano(35 points).

So Hall got slightly more ice time with significantly weaker linemates. His average ice time is also probably a little inflated since Hemsky missed 18 games while Hall was still healthy. His ice time would have increased....and while his ice time increased, so did the quality of players sent out there to shut him down. With Hemsky not in the line up, Hall had 10 goals and 18 points which is a 46 goal/82 point pace. Small sample size but it's still impressive to see he can carry a team on his back. I'm not saying Skinner can't. We just haven't seen him without Staal in the line up doing the heavy lifting...and even when Hemsky was healthy Hall would have to go up against the oppositions best players because he was our best player. I'm sure that was the case for Skinner on a lot of nights too. Lets also not forget that Hall didn't have the benefit of having three 30+ point defensemen on his team to get him the puck. Whitney missed 47 games this season and still lead the Oilers defense with 27 points.

It also took Hall a little while to get going but once he did, he was about on par with Skinner statistically despite having weaker linemates.

Taylor Hall
First 20 games- 4 goals and 9 points
- Prorates to 82 games: 16 goals and 37 points -
Final 45 games- 18 goals and 33 points
- Prorates to 82 games: 33 goals and 60 points -

Jeff Skinner
First 20 games- 6 goals and 16 points
- Prorates to 82 games: 25 goals and 66 points -
Final 62 games- 25 goals and 47 points
- Prorates to 82 games: 32 goals and 62 points -

Skinner had the better season but that's because he had the better start. For 2/3 of Hall's season he was just as good as Skinner....and I realize stats don't tell the whole story. They play different styles and were in different situations but in the end they're both offensive players that produced at a similar pace and were completely dominant on more than a handful of occasions this season.

 

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

How do people realistically see Hall in the future? What kind of production? I mean, there's already a thread in the Poll section... but I think a lot of people will just post and vote based on litttle. I'd like to hear from Oilers fans in particular.

 

[Joey Moss]

How do people realistically see Hall in the future? What kind of production? I mean, there's already a thread in the Poll section... but I think a lot of people will just post and vote based on litttle. I'd like to hear from Oilers fans in particular.

Well, IMHO I believe Hall will be a 50 goal scorer in his prime playing alongside Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle. I mean, Hall and Eberle already have chemistry at an early stage of their careers.. and both Hall and Eberle's games are perfect for RNH. That line is a match made in heaven. Their games all compliment each other and they should be able to produce a bunch of points.

 

[Eytinge]

How do people realistically see Hall in the future? What kind of production? I mean, there's already a thread in the Poll section... but I think a lot of people will just post and vote based on litttle. I'd like to hear from Oilers fans in particular.

I'm hoping for an 80+ point winger, maybe a few seasons of 90+ in his prime. I'm not sure he'll get enough assists to be a guy that wins an Art Ross but he'll be a guy that scores 40 goals multiple times.

 

[Vincent_TheGreat]

They were bad at the worst possible time, is it me or did they get stuck with some unlucky 1st overall pick years? Hall and (probably) Hopkins are good but, not on the level of most other 1st overalls and now they are probably gonna miss out on an actual 1st overall talent in Yakupov next season, sucks to be an Oilers fan having to settle as those 2 as your picks for the future.

LOL, seriously? I,ll take Hall easily over Yakupov

 

[Future]

LOL, seriously? I,ll take Hall easily over Yakupov

In 3 years you will eat your words. He has been called possibly the next Ovechkin. But smaller.

 

[McOilbleeder]

How do people realistically see Hall in the future? What kind of production? I mean, there's already a thread in the Poll section... but I think a lot of people will just post and vote based on litttle. I'd like to hear from Oilers fans in particular.

Well based on his rookie season, his potential is pretty immense.

He was on pace for around 28 goals without any PP(he got 11 PPP/42 points), his choice of C was Horcoff, Gagner and Cogliano for most of the season, and at the start, he was getting 2nd line LW minutes and limited PP time(he got 2:43, by comparison Tavares in his rookie season got 4:08/game of PP time and Kane got 3:14, for the sake of comparison of past 1st overall forwards).

I mean, producing most of his offense at ES, while getting better defensively(not a ton but improvement none the less) as the season moved(his GA/60 dropped from 3.47 around Christmas to 3.12 by the end of the season) all in his rookie season is impressive.

I honestly see him as a 40-45 goal scorer consistently, I came into this season thinking we'd be lucky if he 20 with his supporting cast, yet he was on pace to hit 28 or so, which if you saw our team, is impressive.

When we pick RNH, if he becomes the player they say he can be, then him, Hall and Eberle should be one dynamic trio, one which is capable of really creating some damned good offense.

 

[17Kurri]

Crosby and Stamkos are the only two I take over Hall.

I think he's on par with Kane and Tavares, and way ahead of Johnson. Johnson was a mistake 1st overall and the Blues basically admitted as much by trading him away this season.

 

[8BostonRocker24]

I would rather have Taylor Hall than 3 of the previous 5 first overall picks that came before him.

Just saying.

Steven Stamkos, Patrick Kane, Sidney Crosby will always be better then Hall. John Tavares has a strong chance of being better then him for the length of their careers.


The only player I would clearly take Hall over is 2006's 1st overall, Erik Johnson.

 

[SDig14]

Steven Stamkos, Patrick Kane, Sidney Crosby will always be better then Hall. John Tavares has a strong chance of being better then him for the length of their careers.


The only player I would clearly take Hall over is 2006's 1st overall, Erik Johnson.

I'm gonna disagree. I think JT and Hall will both be better than Kane. I also think Hall and JT will be very similar throughout their careers, both being behind Stamkos and Crosby.

Kane and Hall are VEERY different players, so perhaps you just prefer that style of play more than Hall, but Hall is the better scorer and can do more on his own IMO. Kane thrives when playing with good players, since he is such a gifted playmaker, but he needs that scorer to be effective, simply because so far in his career we haven't seen enough to think he will be a consistent 30+ goal scorer at the NHL level. Obviously, you don't hold it against a playmaker for not scoring goals, but I think I would prefer a 40-40 guy than a 25-55 guy, and I think Hall has consistent 40-40 potential, which would be outstanding.

Kane is clearly the most proven of the 3, so a gambling man would probably take him and run, but I like Hall and JT's potential more.

 

[Jumptheshark]

as an oiler fan I agree that they picked a bad time to get first overall picks

While oiler fans are having a love in with RNH--he is not a clear top pick---the first five guys to go could all have good nhl careeers

 

[TheSpaceman]

Yes...poor, poor Oilers...back to back 1st overall selections. How awful. It's too bad there's not a talent for them available like Lemieux or Gretzky. That franchise could really use a player of that caliber finally...all these years of never having sniffed a Stanley Cup Finals, let alone hoisting a Cup. For a franchise that always seems snake-bitten and having about as much success as the LA Clippers, it woud be nice to see them at long last get a super-star player to lead them to the promised land.





PS - Nobody feels sorry for Edmonton.

Did you miss 2006?

 

[Senor Catface]

In 3 years you will eat your words. He has been called possibly the next Ovechkin. But smaller.

So one of his great assets, the ability to run people over and push defenders aside, doesn't translate to the new kid. So really...not the next Ovechkin.

 

[TheSpaceman]

How do people realistically see Hall in the future? What kind of production? I mean, there's already a thread in the Poll section... but I think a lot of people will just post and vote based on litttle. I'd like to hear from Oilers fans in particular.

When he got onto his game this year he was unstoppable. The points dont show it as much considering half the team was rookies and missed Hemsky, Whitney, and Horcoff for most of the year. Hall showed ability to take the puck in the neutral zone and single handedly beat two defenseman on his own. He also scored many goals from tough angles. He will be a 40G 40A player in my opinion. If he did not have a slow start and was not injured he would have easily broken 30 goals as a rookie (regardless of slow start he was on pace for 28) Hall was the best player on the oilers for most of the year. Typically rookies do not have to fill such shoes for a season or two.

 

[Dread Clawz]

In 3 years you will eat your words. He has been called possibly the next Ovechkin. But smaller.

He's nowhere near what Ovechkin was. He's getting seriously overrated.

 

[TheSpaceman]