Seguin or Hall? Hall or Seguin?

It’s the off-season once again and NHL players are spending the little time they have with their friends and families before training camps start up again. As any hockey fan can agree upon, Hockey is one of the shortest off-seasons in sports. Especially if you are among the teams that went deep into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For those bottom dwellers like the Oilers, it actually is a nice break – adding about two months more than the Blackhawks will have. Regardless of how long or short a respective teams off-season is, it’s the stories that unfold during the next few months that shape an upcoming season and it all starts with the NHL Entry Draft.

This year there are two bonafide players to choose from. Tyler Seguin,center, from Plymouth in the Ontario Hockey League and Taylor Hall, a left wing from Windsor, Ontario. The OHL is the same league last years #1 overall pick, John Tavares played in. So the obvious question is “Who will the Oilers take with the #1 pick, Hall or Seguin?” Hall is the more gifted player offensively, however, Seguin may be the smarter choice in terms of what the Oilers are desperate for – that being a well developed player who can play sound offense as well as defense.

These two guys are excellent choices for any team but who and why do you choose either one? This is one of the reasons why I think a General Manager in the NHL is amongst one of the hardest positions in all of sports because a teams choices in a draft shape their future for years to come, just look at the Caps, Pens or ‘Hawks. But, in my humble opinion I think Tyler Seguin is the more reasonable choice, slightly edging out Taylor Hall. Seguin currently leads the list of top NHL Prospects put out by Central Scouting.

"The confidence I have in this is that, I think they’re so close, they could be flip-flopped,” Director of Central Scouting E.J. McGuire told NHL.com. “I don’t think that’s at all being wishy-washy about it, but there may be something that a team sees that may sway them this much in order to pick one over the other.”"

Like I said before, it is no easy task to choose Hall or Seguin, its a relative crap shoot at this point and only time will tell who is the better choice. In a perfect world they will serve their new teams equally as well as the other and guide them to a Stanley Cup title just like Sidney Crosby did, it’s that easy right? It only took him a few years, why can’t they do it? Well, now I just sound ridiculous but you understand my point. General Manager, Steve Tambellini will have several long and detailed meetings about who they will select, but I have a gut feeling after they weigh all of their options, they will be announcing Seguin as the #1 choice overall, he is just the smarter pick.

However, if it were a game of pickup and I got first pick, I would take Hall in a heartbeat just because I like his offensive flair so much, he is a lot like Zach Parise in that regard. He is only 185 lbs right now, but I am sure he will add to that in the coming months, only getting into better shape leading up to the draft. He had 40G & 66A for 106 points for the Windsor Spitfires and most impressively was a resounding 46 in the +/- category. He is a gifted player but has been criticized for his defensive play before but that happens when one part of your game heavily outweighs another. He will surely provide a needed boost to any teams arsenal, whether he gets picked second by the Bruins or (which I think will happen) he goes to another team at the second position after Boston trades it.

Yes, indeed the 2010 NHL Entry Draft from the Staples Center will enter us all into the off-season moves, trades, signings and even retirements. One thing is for certain — whether you want Seguin or you want Hall, Oiler fans, whoever you get is a damn good trade off. This will not be the last of my talk on the NHL draft even if the Devils don’t have a first round pick this year since they booted it away to the Thrashers for Kovy. Speaking of Kovy, stay tuned as he will be the next topic of discussion since we are entering Round II of the Ilya Kovalchuk Sweepstakes–this time with a hint of KHL, stay tuned.

Be sure to visit our Fansided.com NHL blog on Entry Draft coverage at Too Many Men on the Site.