In a span of just four games, a can't-miss, surefire superstar rookie has become an inexperienced kid who must be sent to the OHL for some seasoning. Such is life in a hockey-loving city that hasn't made the playoffs in four years.
Of course, that sentiment is not shared by all Oilers fans, but it was felt by enough of them to elicit a response from the 18-year-old's head coach.
"He's going to be here all year unless somebody tells me otherwise," Tom Renney told the Edmonton Journal. "That's a conversation you’d have down the road if, in fact, there was something that seems consistent in his game that really prevents him from moving forward. I'm not there.
"I think he’ll just get better. That's an assimilation we're prepared to work with."
Hall, after being selected No. 1 overall in this year's draft, has just one assist and no goals to go with a minus-1 rating thus far, as the Oilers have gone 2-2-0 to start the season. Coming off a 40-goal, 106-point season in the OHL, Hall was expected to be a productive player immediately upon entering the NHL. Fortunately for him and the Oilers, the season is just 5 percent completed.
Tyler Seguin, with whom Hall was compared leading up to the draft, has a goal and an assist in three games for the Bruins, while the No. 3 overall pick, defenseman Erik Gudbranson, is playing for the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL this season. Twenty-five-year-old rookie Mark Letestu leads rookie scoring with four goals and three assists, while defenseman Cam Fowler leads all members of the 2010 draft class with a goal and two assists in three games for the Ducks.
