It’s been over a year since Peter Chiarelli shipped out Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson. It remains no less funny, especially as the Oilers grasp and claw for anyone beyond Run CMD and Leon Draisaitl that can a) score and B) move at something more than a glacial pace.
Hall bore the brunt of criticism in Edmonton, more than their other #1 picks did when things didn’t work. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins seems to have ducked most of the ire, even though no one’s been able to adequately able to explain what it is he actually does. Nail Yakupov was a bust, but also had the good fortune of just being the #1 pick in whatever everyone said was a weak draft. Jordan Eberle was tossed overboard only this summer.
And yet you can’t overstate the mistake here.
I’ll name it that because A) It’s true and B) I don’t know what the hell else we would talk about when it comes to New Jersey. Certainly not their hockey team, and certainly not the ambience. But I guess that’s our lot in life, so we’ll address Nico Hishier, Taylor Hall (for the 50 games he’s actually upright for), and whatever the hell else isn’t wearing green and red like they should be.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
’16-’17 Record: 28-40-14 70 points (dead-ass last in the Metro)
Team Stats 5vs: 47.8 CF% (27th) 47.4 SF% (26th) 47.7 SCF% (26th) 6.2 SH% (28th) .924 SV% (14th)
Special Teams: 17.5 PP% (22nd) 79.6 SV% (23rd)
If the Hawks weren’t very good to open the contest against Florida, they decided to see how much more the bottom could fall out and still get out with two wins against the Devils. The opening 10 minutes of tonight’s game might be the worst we’ve seen a patch of hockey from the Hawks in years. They were skating in mud, and not the good Mississippi kind. The Devils were three steps quicker all over the ice and worse yet the Hawks didn’t seem all that bothered to do anything about it.
Then again, I guess you don’t have to care when you know that Corey Crawford is almost never going to let a game get away from you. He did it again tonight, pulling off several saves in the 1st that could have basically ended it. The longer the game went on with the Devils in reach, the more chance it would be that their shoddy defense and a not yet full-strength Schneider would crack. One nifty play from Rasmussen to Kruger and the Hawks were on their way.
And for the second game in a row, they blew a third period lead that they’ll be able to cover up with victory in a post-60 gimmick. That’s not a trend you want to count on, but it’ll work for now.
vs. 
RECORDS: Devils: 10-7-5 Hawks: 15-6-3
PUCK DROP: 7:30pm
TV: CSN
SWAMP SITTERS: In Lou We Trust
Projected Lineups
ADJUSTED CORSI%: Devils – 49.4 (18th) Hawks – 50.8 (12th)
ADJUSTED xGF%: Devils – 46.1 (28th) Hawks – 47.4 (22nd)
POWER PLAY %: Devils – 13.7 (25th) Hawks – 17.3 (16th)
PENALTY KILL %: Devils – 84.3 (9th) Hawks – 70.7 (They’re above 70%!!!)
The Hawks begin the December portion of the schedule tonight in the most coma-inducing way possible, with a visit from the New Jersey Devils. If there’s a chance to look good in regulation against a team, which the Hawks haven’t really done since San Jose, this would be it. But then again, no one looks good against the Devils. That’s just their way.
vs.
GAMETIME: 6pm Central
TV: WGN
SPRINGSTEEN SUCKS: In Lou We Trust
RECORDS: Hawks 3-3-1 Devils 3-2-1
PROJECTED LINEUPS
SCORE-ADJUSTED CF%: Hawks – 51.3% (10th) Devils – 50.1% (13th)
POWER PLAY: Hawks – 19.2% (16th) Devils – 23.8% (9th)
PENALTY KILL – Hawks – Awful (Dead Ass Last) Devils – 90.0% (5th)
TRENDS: Hall has three goals and four points in the past two games, Kyle Quincey… still sucks
The Hawks will embark on a road game for only the third time this season and the last time this month. They’ll be looking for their first point on the road as well. They’ll have a pretty big chance against yet another non-descript Devils team. In fact, the Devils officially changed their name to “The Non-Descript New Jersey Devils.” You didn’t notice, because no one notices anything the Devils really do.
God these are getting way dated, aren’t they. Fuck I’m old. Anyway…
Let’s not bury the lede here. The Oilers are absolute fucking morons for trading Taylor Hall. Since he came into the league in 2010, here are the left wings that have outscored him: Sedin, Ovechkin (who has played right wing a lot of that time), Zetterberg (who played center for a lot of that time), Benn, Marleau, Vanek, and Sharp (who also played center for part of that period. So that’s four surefire Hall of Famers, Benn who might have a case when all is said and done, the Hall of Very Good for Sharp, and somehow Vanek got in here. These players just don’t grow on fucking trees.
In terms of analytic numbers, Hall has been far above his teammates for the last five seasons, save one. In the lockout shortened year he carried the water over 8% higher than his teammates. He’s been over 3% better than his teammates twice, and was +0.86% last year as the Oilers began to maybe sort of figure things out.
As we always do when the Hawks and the Devils meet up, we turn to InLouWeTrust.com maven John Fischer (@JKFischer) to find out what’s going on in the swamp. And yes, we know the Meadowlands was the swamp but we’re guessing Newark isn’t much better.
So, still laughing about the Taylor Hall trade?
I did exclaim, “I don’t miss you, Adam Larsson” after this goal by Hall. More seriously, I think it was a fantastic trade. Larsson has actually turned out to be someone that Edmonton needed and Hall is performing at a level that has been missed at forward for several years in New Jersey. More germane to your readers for this game, he’s hot right now with five goals out of 19 shots on net in the last four games. He’s essentially the Devils’ Patrick Kane. And like Kane, once he has space, he will do amazing things.
Sorry for the delayed wrap. None of us could get to the game live, and after watching it going to bed seems a far more pleasant option than thinking about this slog in any other meaningful way. If such a thing was possible.
The Hawks essentially got Devils-ed last night. At least for 40 minutes, and when you’re then down four you’re just not going to make that up against Corey Schneider no matter how much shelling you do. The Devils snuffed out all the Hawks offensive dash, keeping them to 15 shots through the first two periods and maybe three or four good chances. Maybe. The Hawks couldn’t get through the neutral zone (though not in the normal New Jersey way and we’ll get to that in a second). The Hawks for the second game in a row were the victim of some pretty silly bounces (a blocked shot landing right on Zajac’s forehand), or bad turnovers from the guys they just can’t have them from. And Crawford wasn’t able to bail them out of their biggest mistakes, though that 1st period could have been worse without him.
vs.
PUCK DROP: 6pm
TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN Radio 720
BADA BING: In Lou We Trust
God, please let the Hawks and Devils share a conference sometime soon so we can use that Lovitz picture more than twice a year. Thanks.
The Hawks hit the road for just one, trying to improve on what you’d have to call an abysmal 1-4 record so far. And in those four losses, they haven’t even really been close, getting fairly well tallywhacked by the Flyers, Caps, Jets, and Wild. Only the last one there would you say they were in it, and even in that one they weren’t particularly good. They’ll also be attempting to wash out the taste of Wednesday’s Sun Salutation Of Idiocy, coughing up a three-goal lead to The Filth before losing in the NBA Jam portion that comes after 60 minutes.
