Klefbom: Hall rarely had best games when we needed him most

At least one member of the Edmonton Oilers is encouraged by the team's decision to trade Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils for Adam Larsson earlier this summer.

That would be defenseman Oscar Klefbom, who - in an interview with Swedish hockey news site hockeysverige.se - believes the team as a whole is set to be better despite losing its best player.

As translated by Martin Lunden of Swedish Oil:

I believe the team as whole is better. We've got plenty of promising forwards and we desperately needed a top-right defender. I also believe Larsson is due for his real breakthrough and hopefully I'll get the chance to form a defensive pairing with him and get the chemistry going.

I also understand the strong (negative) reactions (to trading Hall) (especially as) Hall has been our best player for the last couple of years. But at the same time, it's also somewhat tricky to pinpoint exactly what he has been able to accomplish for us.

Unfortunately, he rarely had his best games when we played the toughest teams - when we might've needed it the most - while he always played amazingly well when we were up towards the somewhat (lesser) teams.

It's important to note Klefbom refers to Hall as Edmonton's best player over the past couple seasons, and rightfully so.

In his eyes, however, the team as a whole is more balanced with help on the back end, which, ideally, will enable the remaining forwards to step up and fill the hole left by the departed winger.

Still, the defenseman's assessment may not be quite accurate.

Klefbom's comments will certainly be front of mind when the Devils host the Oilers on Jan. 7.