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It's been almost a year since the New Jersey Devils acquired Taylor Hall from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Adam Larsson.
Regardless of whether you think the value was fair -- I'm not getting involved in that discussion again -- I think everyone can agree that both teams addressed big needs in the deal.
The Oilers were desperate for help on defense and Larsson logged 20+ minutes a night for a team that was one game away from making the Western Conference Finals.
Meanwhile, Hall led the Devils in scoring chances, points, points per game, and shots despite a) missing 10 games and; b) posting the lowest shooting percentage of his career, which will almost certainly go up next season.
Anyhow, it appears possible the Devils and Oilers will reconnect on a trade again this off-season.
Leon Draisaitl is in line for a massive raise this summer while Connor McDavid will become one of the league's highest paid players a year from now. They'll have to dump some money and Jordan Eberle, who is signed for $6 million per through 2018-19, appears to be the guy the Oilers are willing to cut the cord with.
David Staples of the Edmonton Journal wrote an article on the subject and identified three landing spots that stood out, one of which was New Jersey.
5. For Edmonton to get the best return, they need to find teams that have a major hole on the right wing, the need for more goals and both salary cap space and no players needing to be signed and take that space this summer. From my own brief survey, I found three teams that fit the bill, meeting all those requirements, the New Jersey Devils, the Buffalo Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks.
I wouldn't say the Devils have no players that will eat into their abundance of cap space -- Damon Severson will get a decent raise -- but, either way, they will have plenty of money to play with.
They are also desperate for help on right wing, as Staples outlined, and have the need for more offense (they finished 28th in goals).
With all that in mind, the Devils trying to pry Eberle from the Oilers is certainly not out of the realm of possibility.
The Oilers' ask for Eberle is where things get interesting. On one hand, he shot well below his career average this season and still put up impressive numbers (20 goals, 51 points). On the other, he had two points and 22 shots in 13 playoff games and was beat up pretty good for his lack of production.
There also aren't many teams who can take on a $6 million salary without giving the Oilers a lot of money back in the deal, which they don't want, so there probably aren't too many realistic landing spots.
Would Mike Cammalleri, with the Devils eating 50% of his $5M salary, and a couple draft picks (likely 2nds/3rds, which the Devils have four of in each of the next two drafts) be enough? What about a cheap roster player like John Moore ($1.66M) and draft picks?
If that kind of package interests the Oilers, I think a deal could be had. If they want more in a deal, I'm not sure the Devils are a match.
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