Article content

TSN 1050 had Darren Dreger on their afternoon drive show, and the prominent insider dropped a bit of a bombshell in the wake of the firing of Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins: He believes the organization would consider moving Taylor Hall to address need elsewhere.

Dreger pinpointed the draft as the time to make such a trade and stressed that it would have to be a move the Oilers were absolutely certain about:

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or TSN’s Darren Dreger believes that Edmonton Oilers star Taylor Hall will be “in play” in trade talks Back to video

If you’re moving a piece like Taylor Hall – and I believe that Taylor Hall will be in play – than the rate of return is always best when teams have flexibility in the summer… If you’re moving out a franchise player, potentially, like Taylor Hall is, you’d better be damn certain that that’s the right move for the organization because he is an elite talent. If you’re moving out Jordan Eberle, someone like that, again from that inner core, a core that you paid dearly, obviously too early, you have to be certain.

Why would the team move Hall? Dreger suggested two reasons, and the first one started with the culture inside the Oilers’ dressing room:

“It’s not one player; it’s the collection of players that make up a sagging work ethic and a lack of culture,” he said. “But if you wanted to put a face on it or a name to it, that would be Taylor Hall. Taylor Hall, at least again from a culture standpoint, more in the room not necessarily on the ice, hasn’t been what they’d hoped he would be.”

That’s a pretty significant comment coming from one of Canada’s most prominent NHL reporters. Dreger, of course, isn’t covering the team every day but he’s one of a handful of broadcasters with a national reach and connections that go deep inside multiple NHL organizations. It’s a reasonable bet that his viewpoint is being informed by people who are with the team.