National Hockey League Transfer News: Edmonton Oilers Sign Taylor Hall
The Edmonton Oilers have signed their number one draft pick for the 2010 season in the shape of Taylor Hall into an entry level contract. Hall said that he had his agent deal with all the financial matters and is expected to make 900,000 dollars – the maximum base salary - for the next three seasons without the bonuses. If he gets all his bonuses, the 18-year-old could end up making 3 million dollars a year. Last year’s first overall pick John Tavares was given the same deal as Hall and Tavares cashed in about 2.8 million dollars in bonuses.
Hall was obviously excited by making inroads into the NHL. He said that signing the contract was “a big deal” but it is only the first step for him with the Oilers and that there was a lot of work to be done at the Oilers camp. He wanted to get the deal signed at the earliest so he could get to work with the Oilers. “I am excited to get started tomorrow”, Hall said.
The Oilers can’t wait for him to get started either. General Manager Steve Tambellini said that it was important to move fast and get the distractions out of the way. He wanted Hall to get back to Kingston and focus on preparing for the NHL camp.
Hall was ranked behind Tyler Seguin by central scouting but the Oilers named him as the top selection of the draft. Tambellini said that Taylor, with his prominence in the World Junior Tournament and in his own team with back-to-back Memorial Cup Most Valuable Player titles and an overall incredible junior career was one of the most competitive players in the game. Bob Boughner, his coach through his junior years, said that Taylor played a fearless game at the net and was a dynamic skater. He added that it was extremely difficult to knock the six-foot-180-lb skater off the puck once he gets his stick on it. “Taylor’s desire to be the best is also very unique and has also contributed to his success”, he added.
And what spectacular success did he have. Just in the last season, with the Windsor Spitfires Taylor, he scored an astonishing 40 goal and 66 assists for a total of 106 points which earned him the MVP for the second time running. The Oilers are looking to Taylor to continue on with his impressive statistics. They really need a scorer after finishing last season at the bottom of the NHL at the 30th place.
Taylor’s presence would immediately be felt in the Oiler’s power plays. Coinciding with Taylor’s addition were subtractions for the Oilers too. Slovakia’s Lubo Visnovsky, Canadian player Sheldon Souray and Russian Denis Grebeshkov have been the backbone of the Oilers power plays. For all that Visnovsky and Souray delivered to the Oilers, the team lacked a good finisher. Taylor on the right-wing could change it for the better. Even if it worked out perfectly for the Oilers, it would still be far from making it into a formidable team.
Tambellini had no delusions about what Taylor’s addition meant. He acknowledged that it was a “huge forward” step for the Oilers to become the kind of team that fans, players and Tambellini want. “We have a lot of work to do but I do know that we are a team that has a chance to win and this young man is going to be there with us”, he added.
Its big news for the Oilers also because this was the very first year that the Oilers got the first pick in the NHL draft in 31 years. It doesn’t come as a surprise that they want to make the most out of this transfer his abilities by exposing his talent in front of the various youngsters in the team.
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