In memoriam: Hall for Larsson

It was a trade that sent shockwaves throughout the National Hockey League.

And to this day, its ramifications are still being felt.

Three years ago today, then-Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli traded Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson.

One for one.

Man for man.

Dude for dude.

Forward for defenceman.

I didn’t remember today was the anniversary of the traee until I hit Twitter seeing everybody’s amazing tweets, including a few hilarious ones of my own.

I was reminded about so many tweets in the hours and minutes before the trade broke about how Chiarelli would never depreciate the value of an asset like Hall.

How he wasn’t that bad of a GM.

How there’s no way the Oilers could blow trading an eventual Hart winner.

Sigh.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Adam Larsson. I think he’s a fine defenceman to patrol the right side of this Edmonton Oilers blueline, but every time I look back I can’t help but cringe about the fact we gave up Taylor Hall for him.

It’s not you, Adam, it’s what we gave up for you.

I always wonder about how much work was actually done in finding a good, right-shot defenceman for the Edmonton Oilers.

But I guess this was the price you had to pay.

It was the fact that Hall was the one — the man who was sent to Edmonton from the Windsor Spitfires to bring the Oilers out of the depths of NHL hell.

I’ll never forget how excited 15-year-old Zach was for Edmonton to get Hall. Finally, for the first time after a long few years, there was HOPE. Hall, Omark, Puljaarvi, Eberle.

I vividly remember going to my Dad’s work one day and seeing a reverse standings order of every teams points in Hall’s draft year. #FallForHall sat above it.

None the less, Hall’s years in Edmonton were joyous to watch. He provided so much energy up and down the ice and was such a treat to watch in the offensive zone.

Those days of him dawning an Oilers jersey are gone, but the great memories of him playing for the Oilers will never fade.

God speed, Taylor.

On Twitter: @zjlaing