Other Canadian NHL teams make Canucks look good with bad trades

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      The best news for the Canucks today was no news, as two of their fellow Canadian teams made egregious trades that cost them two high-profile young players.

      First, the Edmonton Oilers traded star forward Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils for defenceman Adam Larsson. Larsson, it must be said, is a young, solid player with a pedigree—he was the number four overall pick in the 2011 draft. He is not, however, Taylor Hall.

      In 381 games with the Oilers, Hall registered 328 points, including a 2013-14 season in which he put up 80 points in 75 games.

      Hall was the first overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft.

      Elsewhere in the country, the Montreal Canadiens were doing something even more egregious. GM Marc Bergevin traded the heart and soul of the team—otherwise known as P.K. Subban—for Shea Weber.

      Yes, both players are star defencemen by definition. But the shine was starting to come off Weber—the analytics crowd in particular was not a fan of him. And in Subban, the Habs have given up a 27-year-old, Norris Trophy-winning defenceman who in many ways defined not only the team, but also the city.

      Weber turns 31 in August, and while he has been nominated for the Norris trophy several times, some suggested he was starting to fall off a cliff a little bit.

      Subban is entering the third year of an eight-year, US$72-million deal. Weber has 10 years remaining on a deal worth US$81 million.  

      #Subban and #Hall are currently trending on Twitter. We’d post some of the tweets, but the language is, uh, unsavoury, to say the least.  

      GM Jim Benning was rumoured to be in the market for Subban and also Steven Stamkos—who re-signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning—but he’s probably just happy he stayed out of the news today. 

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