Can the Oilers really pass on Hall?

Hall with his second Memorial Cup MVP trophy

While most of the hockey world has spent the last week watching the NHL Conference Championships, Edmonton fans instead were watching two other tournaments much more closely – the IIHF World Championships and the Memorial Cup.

The World Championships were a disappointment for both Canadian and American hockey fans as the countries that battled for gold in Vancouver just 3 months ago could do no better than 7th and 13th place respectivly. But Oiler fans weren’t nearly as interested in the fate of the Canadian team as they were in how Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson and Jordan Eberle would preform. I can’t say that either disappointed.

Pääjärvi-Svensson ended the tournament in third among scorers with 5 goals and 4 assists and was named to the tournaments all-star team – not too bad for a nineteen year old. And Eberle had the amazing four point performance against Norway that gave Oiler fans goosebumps about what could be. He didn’t get another point after that sparkling debut but his team only managed 5 more goals in losses to Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Russia so it’s not as if he was the only player not putting up big numbers for Canada.

And then there was the Memorial Cup, which for Oiler fans was one last chance to see Taylor Hall play before the NHL draft. Since well before the draft lottery fans in Edmonton have debated Hall and Seguin. Central Scouting has Seguin ranked ahead of Hall in their final rankings and the CHL named Seguin Top Prospect. The two tied for the OHL scoring title. With Hall leading the way, the Windsor Spitfires swept Seguin and the Plymouth Whalers in the second round of the OHL playoffs. At every turn there has been another item to discuss in the debate which could easily be one of the biggest in the Oilers franchise history.

But based on what I saw from Mr. Hall over the last week at the Memorial Cup I’m not so sure that the Oilers decision is all that difficult after all. Hall’s play in the Memorial Cup was simply amazing. En route to Windsor’s second straight Memorial Cup title, Hall scored 5 goals and added another 4 assists to lead the tournament in scoring. But he doesn’t just score goals, he scores highlight reel goals; there is this one from the opening game of the tournament or this one from the final.

Goals aside though, this is a guy who plays big in big games. Already in his career he’s won gold for Canada at the 2008 Under 18 World Championships and silver at the 2010 World Juniors. He’s won two Memorial Cups and was named MVP both times, something nobody else has ever done. The guy is battled tested in high pressure situations and hasn’t shown any cracks. It’s hard not to like a player like that. To date Hall has done far more in his career than Seguin has. Not to say that Seguin can’t do these same things given the opportunity but the simple fact is that at this point he hasn’t. For me that is a big plus for Hall.

Fans in Edmonton looking for a negative in Hall’s game point to the number of big hits that he takes and that he likes to skate with his head down at times. Hall and Lindros are being mentioned in the same sentence a lot these days. This is a concern for me too. The Oilers best today is Ales Hemsky. Hemsky is willing to hold on to the puck to make plays, something that has lead to injuries over the last few seasons that have cost him a lot games. But I think that his game can evolve.

More often than not players at the top of their draft class have a bad habit or two that aren’t a big deal in junior hockey because they’re simply that much better than their competition; in the NHL that isn’t the case. Why can’t Hall change his game too? I don’t see Hall’s propensity for taking hits and skating with his head down as deal breakers. Look at the hit he took against the Wheat Kings in the tournament opener as an example. He took the big hit but he came back and scored the beautiful goal I mentioned earlier. I think he’ll be just fine in the NHL.

The Oilers ultimately have to make the final decision when it comes to Taylor or Tyler. They may choose to go with Seguin over Hall because they believe he will be the better player in the long run. But what Hall did last week in Brandon had to at least make the Oilers brass doubt that decision just a little bit. If not then I don’t think they were watching the same games I was.