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“No, but Bob I can pretty much announce to everybody who it’s going to be,” Laraque said. “I already know. In Montreal we know everything.”

“Who is it going to be?”

“It’s going to be Taylor Hall.”

“Oilers insider Georges Laraque out of Montreal, former Oilers player!” Stauffer piped up . “We shall see.”

“You know it, too. You work with the team. I know you can’t say it, you just can’t say anything, but you know yourself,” Laraques said.

My take

Hmmm. hard to say on this rumour, but it sounds like Laraque has definitely heard something. How credible is Laraque? He’s got plenty of ties throughout the hockey world, he’s part of the Oilers family, he’s part of that small NHL village of gossips and insiders, so it’s entirely possible he’s in the know.

It’s also possible he heard something on some hockey show or from someone and is extrapolating.

That said, he sounded pretty sure the new Oilers captain is going to be Taylor Hall. In fact, he sounded certain.

As Stauffer put it, this is in the T.B.A. category. But what Stauffer didn’t say, for what it’s worth, is any kind of outright comment that Laraque had his information wrong — and Stauffer usually isn’t shy about correcting someone if they have it wrong. Stauffer is also as connected and in the know about the Oilers as anyone, as he is a hard worker, a demon for the details and an Oilers employee, something of their unofficial spokesman.

When Oilers coach Todd McLellan last spoke on this issue a few weeks ago, he said: “It’s virtually impossible for me as an individual to make a call on the leadership group and tactics that are in play here right now because I have not experienced the team as a whole…