A TRADE ABOUT DOLLARS AND DOUGHNUTS
Sure it was about the money, but Eberle didn’t get the job done in the playoffs
It was a trade more about Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and John Tavares than about Jordan Eberle and Ryan Strome, the actual two players involved.
Sooner or later it was a deal Peter Chiarelli had to make. Garth Snow didn’t have an option when it came to later.
For Edmonton Oilers general manager Chiarelli, it was about clearing cap space to sign McDavid and Draisaitl to new longterm contracts.
For New York Islanders GM Snow, it was finding a proven 20-25 goal per season offensive player to play with Tavares to convince his star not to depart in free agency.
So, yes, it was a trade about dollars.
It’s going from US$6 million to US$2.5 million.
But it was also a trade about doughnuts.
Thirteen games without a single, solitary goal in the playoffs were the doughnuts.
Chiarelli wanted to find out which players the Oilers could count on in the playoffs and Eberle didn’t come close to getting it done.
Last year, when Chiarelli traded Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson, there was considerable angst and even outrage involved. There isn’t going to be that here.
The overwhelming majority of the 3,348 respondents to our annual ‘You Be The Boss’ postseason poll — 87 per cent — voted ‘Let Him Go’ instead of ‘Keep Him.’
Eberle’s performance in the playoffs and much of the regular season was decidedly deficient.
After waiting six years to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs, he didn’t score a goal when he got there.
One thing to keep in mind here is that Eberle, at 506 games, was supposed to be in the prime time years of his career. And, despite having the opportunity to play with Connor McDavid, his arrows were going down instead of up.
Prime time of an NHL career is usually from about Game 250 to Game 750.
Eberle scored 34 goals the year before the lockout and his goal totals went from 28 to 24 to 25 to 20 in the last four years as he collected $6 million, $6 million, $6 million and $6 million.
There wasn’t the bang for the buck. And with Draisaitl and McDavid coming to the end of their entry level contracts this year and next respectively, making salary cap room left no room to carry Eberle’s dollars.
Ryan Strome hasn’t come close to living up to his No. 5 overall selection in 2011. But he did score 13 goals and provide 30 points in 69 games last season (compared to Eberle’s 20 goals and 51 points in 82 games).
At 258 games, Strome is just now entering his supposed prime time years.
He’s a bigger body at 6-foot-1 and 199-pounds, and he turns 24 next month.
There’s a chance that Strome could come close to matching Eberle’s numbers last year. But to expect him to become a 20-25 goal scorer? Doubt it.
The trade has to be considered good news for Jesse Puljujarvi, the Finn picked No. 4 overall last year who, ready or not, is now almost certainly going to be a top six forward at age 19 next year.
There’s a new McDavid angle here now.
McDavid played with Ryan’s brother Dylan in Erie. A close friend, Dylan replaced McDavid as captain of the Otters.
The Oilers, you should also know, now have in Larsson, Oscar Klefbom and Strome, three of the top five picks in the 2011 draft.
It’s interesting that the day before the Edmonton Oilers select 22nd overall in the NHL draft, they traded the last player they picked 22nd.
Picking 22nd, after all these years of selecting first or in the first few picks, doesn’t have the sizzle of previous years. But it’s not like you can’t score from there.
Brian Trottier, Adam Graves, Adam Foote, Claude Giroux, Max Pacioretty, Simon Gagne, Dean McAmmond, Reed Larson, Rick Kehoe, Curt Fraser and several others were 22nd selections in the draft and had notable careers.
The Oilers, with the Eberle trade out of the way, can concentrate on the draft without needing to give up the first round pick to get something done, signing Kris Russell and getting McDavid and Draisaitl signed to new deals for July 1.
Expect the Oilers to pick a forward. Maybe another Jordan Eberle.
Chiarelli wanted to find out which players the Oilers could count on in the playoffs and Eberle didn’t come close to getting it done.