June 29th. A Day That Will Forever Live In Infamy
The date was June 29th, 2016. ‘Twas a warm summer Wednesday afternoon. The sun was out. The birds were chirping. You could sense that a buzz was in the air yet to the casual on-looker it was just your standard, tranquil day. The nine-to-fivers were just about to cut out early from their offices and head home for the day. And that’s when it all happened. The clock struck 3:34pm EST and just like that, the entire complexion of the National Hockey League had been altered forever.
It started off with the Edmonton Oilers packing up Taylor Hall’s bags and shipping his ass off to Jersey in exchange for Adam Larsson. As Bob McKenzie would so famously announce, the trade was one for one.
Now the trade definitely addressed the needs of both teams. The Oilers needed a top pair defenseman and they also needed to move Taylor Hall because they knew that they’d eventually have to pay Connor McDavid and make it his locker room. The Devils were in serious need of legitimate offensive firepower and an elite left winger. Now in the 2 years since the trade, it’s pretty obvious that the Devils were the winner in this deal considering Taylor Hall won the Hart Trophy this season. Do I think Larsson is still a key piece for the Oilers? For sure. But I think anybody with half a brain realizes that trade one-for-one was pretty absurd.
Just as the dust was starting to settle from that trade, that was when the major blockbuster hit. Just 20 minutes later, the Montreal Canadiens had traded PK Subban to Nashville and coming back their way was Shea Weber.
Think about that for a second. Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson is a type of trade that you’d typically need at least a full day to really take in and digest. But just 20 minutes later, one of the biggest swaps in recent NHL history goes down between two Norris-caliber defensemen. It was outrageous. There isn’t really a ton of hustle and bustle in life as a hockey blogger, if we’re being totally honest. But in this moment 2 years ago, it felt like we were on the floor of the stock exchange. You could have been watching an episode of The Office on Netflix and by the time you started the episode to the time the episode was finished, both of these trades were completed. And then to top it all off? Less than 5 minutes after the Subban for Weber trade was announced? The Steven Stamkos sweepstakes came to an end.
This was kind of like mixing in a water between drinks at the bar. I honestly believe that if it was announced that Steven Stamkos was intending to leave the Lightning, we all would have died that afternoon via NHL trade overdose. But while Stamkos re-signing in Tampa didn’t necessarily play into chaos that the rest of the day was spiraling into, it was still the 3rd major move in the hockey world that all happened within half an hour of each other. It was without a doubt the best 25 minutes in NHL offseason history and we may never have one like it again. But with the Tavares sweepstakes coming toward on end, Subban still being involved in some trade rumors, and still a ton of uncertainty surrounded Erik Karlsson? Who knows. Maybe we could have ourselves another June 29th today. Probably not. But it’s possible.