Nashville acquires Taylor Hall

At roughly 4:30 PM eastern time, news struck the Nashville area that Sean Monahan had been dealt by the Predators. Fans took to twitter, and other media sources to see if there were any truth to the rumours. Not shortly after it was announced by Eric Wolf of the Nashville Predators that they had shipped off star center to the Boston Bruins in exchange... for Taylor Hall. It is a blockbuster move made by the franchise, which is shocking in the sense that Eric Wolf is not really known for making big trades. Wolf made himself available to media after the trade call was completed.

Media: How did this trade all come together?

Wolf: Well, it came together because of a lot of unforseen circumstances, to be honest. If we hadn't won the superdraft lottery last year, McDavid would not be a Pred, and Monahan would be our long term #2 center for a very very long time. Rob Prach, the GM of the Bruins and I had some discussions involving Monahan, and this deal made the most sense for our team moving forward.

Media: How long were trade talks going on for? Did other teams inquire about Monahan? Were you shopping him around the league?

Wolf: I just want to make it clear first and foremost, it was extremely hard for me to give up Monahan. We drafted him in the 2nd round of the inaugural draft because we really love this kid. We initially anticipated him being our long term 2nd line center. We had a few teams inquire about Monahan - the league was well aware we had a surplus of centers. I wasn't shopping him, no. I really didn't want to let Monahan go. 

Media: So why did you? What is the reason this deal was done?

Wolf: My job is to put the Predators in the best position to be successful. At the end of the day, Monahan was stuck on our 3rd line center role behind Crosby and McDavid. It's not fair to Monahan, and quite frankly, it's a waste of Monahans skillset to have him on the 3rd line, playing with wingers who aren't necessarily goal scorers or known for their skillset. I told myself that if a day came that we ever had to let go of Monahan, I would only move him for something that 100% solved an area of weakness we had on this team, and I think we've done that. 

Media: And what was that weakness? 

Wolf: I've always been in the market to obtain a top flight winger to play on the wing of Crosby or McDavid. Before this deal, our best wingers we had were Skinner, Schenn, Jokinen, and Hertl. Yes, they are all solid players in their own respect, but I felt like we were just lacking that pure goal scorer. I really felt like our depth chart on the wings could really use an elite player. We feel that Taylor Hall really solves that area of weakness we had. This deal allows our team to be deeper, in my opinion. Now we can move someone like Hertl down to the 3rd line center position instead, a roster move I feel makes our team a lot more complete than it was. It's about evenly distributing the talent throughout our line-up. 

Media: How do you think fans will react to the departure of Monahan?

Wolf: Monahan was a huge part of this organization, one of the pillars we were going to build on. We thought extremely high of him, or else we wouldn't have selected him with the 60th overall pick in the inaugural draft. The fans will be stunned, I am sure. This fanbase will always admire Monahan, and we wish him the best in Boston. At the same time, we are also very excited to welcome Taylor Hall to our organization. We are excited to have him paired with Crosby on the top line. And like Monahan, we vision Taylor Hall will be a Pred for a very long time. We wouldn't of made this move if we weren't getting a franchise player back, and honestly, I feel like we got the best one we could because Hall will complement our offense more perfectly than any other player in the EHE could right now. We are extremely thrilled to have him.