Recent Moves in the NHL Off-season

Ah, the NHL off-season — a little more time off the ice for players and a lot more hard work for back-office franchise personnel!  This is the time when coaching staffs, general managers, team operations managers, scouts, team owners, and practically everyone “behind the scenes,” so to speak, is wracking their brains to put together a team roster and franchise staff that will put them in the best place to win in the upcoming season.  Drafts, trades, free agent signings, this is when they all converge into one big amalgamation of hot hockey action both on and off the cold ice.  Although there’s still quite a lot of time before the start of the next season, there has been a lot of activity around the league.  In this article, we will cover some of the most recent moves made by franchises around the league. The Edmonton Oilers signed Taylor Hall! One of the most recent big moves in the league is the acquisition made by NHL franchise Edmonton Oilers.  The Edmonton Oilers were able to sign Taylor Hall under a three-year contract.  This is big news for the club as Hall has shown quite some promise throughout his young career in hockey.  Playing in the Ontario Hockey League for the Windsor Spitfires, Taylor Hall was able to bring the team to two consecutive Memorial Cup Championships.  On both years, the left winger was awarded the Most Valuable Player of the Memorial Cup Tournament.  Hopefully, Hall can help the Edmonton Oilers get back to its glory days, like in the 1980s when the NHL franchise was able to win five Stanley Cups.  Taylor Hall’s contract includes the maximum base salary at $900,000 per season with some bonuses that can net him up to $3.75 million per year.  Some of the other players that number one overall draft pick Taylor Hall will be joining on the Oilers include 2009 10th overall pick Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson and 2008 22nd overall pick Jordan Eberle. The St. Louis Blues signed Jaroslav Halak! Jaroslav Halak has been in the league since the 2002-2003 season, but his presence wasn’t really known until his outstanding performance in last season’s playoffs.  Last season, Halak was playing for the Montreal Canadiens and he did a hell of a job helping them to an amazing season.  In the 2009-2010 season, Halak had a save percentage of .940, which was fourth overall in the league.  Aside from his great save percentage, he also placed ninth in the goals against average (2.40) category.  All in all, Halak to put together a record of 26-13-5 for the Canadiens.  It was in the playoffs that the goalie really began to shine, as Halak helped the eighth-seeded Canadiens eliminate some of the better-seeded teams, such as Washington and Pittsburgh.  In the series with the Washington Capitals, Halak stopped 131 out of 134 shots to help the Canadiens win three straight games and come out victorious in the series.  The St. Louis Blues can definitely take advantage of this stellar performance on ice by Halak.