New Jersey Devils: Cory Schneider Will Miss Adam Larsson

The New Jersey Devils made a huge trade this offseason to acquire Taylor Hall. However, will they miss Adam Larsson?

Coming into the offseason, the New Jersey Devils needed to improve their offense. After being the worst team in the NHL in goals per game last season, Ray Shero went out and made a trade to acquire Taylor Hall. The addition of Hall should really improve the Devils on offense, but they did have to give up Adam Larsson to bring him in.

While it is almost a unanimous opinion that the Devils won this trade with the Edmonton Oilers, Larsson was still a big part of their team. Goalie Cory Schneider praised Larsson’s development since joining the Devils, and also talked about his bright future in the NHL.

“Lars definitely matured over the time I was here with him, both as a player and a person,” Devils goalie Cory Schneider said to Chris Ryan of NJ.com. “He’s still so young, I think people kinda forget he’s only 23. He was one of those young veterans that we were looking towards.”

Larsson was part of a young core that had the Devils optimistic for the future. Now, it will be Hall replacing him in those plans. For Schneider, losing Larsson is a tough blow for the defense in front of him, but Hall’s added skill to the offense should result in the Devils give him more support on the offensive end.

“We have a young core of guys, the Henriques, Palmieri. Lars was part of that group and now Taylor takes his place,” Schneider said to Ryan. “But he really committed himself to playing as tough a defense as he could. As a goaltender, as a player, you appreciated the style of game he played.”

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With a lot of talented young offensive players, the Oilers were able to give up Hall. Adding Larsson should help them on defense like Hall will help the Devils on offense. Like the Devils on offense last season, the Oilers had a really poor defensive unit and needed to upgrade it this season.

“It’s hard to replicate that, you don’t find players like that very easily. That’s why Edmonton had to give up such a good player to get him because they’re hard to come by,” Schneider said to Ryan. “It will definitely create a hole for us, but we’re hoping that there are some guys here that can fill that void and have a chance to step up.”

With both organizations needing to make this deal to improve areas of their team, the argument can be made that they are both winners. The high praise from Schneider will help excite Oilers fans that were thrilled with the deal originally.

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