Eberle gets ‘fresh new start’ with Isles
In the end, it came down to numbers for Jordan Eberle.
The ones on his pay cheque, not the ones on the stats sheet over his 507 National Hockey League games.
The Edmonton Oilers winger’s $6 million salary for this season and next was too big for general manager Peter Chiarelli, who needs cap room to sign Leon Draisaitl for as much as $7 million a year, so he dealt Eberle — the longest serving Oilers player — to the New York Islanders for cheaper and younger right winger Ryan Strome, who makes less than half as much at $2.5 million.
For Eberle, the move comes as “kind of a relief.”
“It’s the No. 1 question people ask you on the street,” Eberle said. “It’s the first (trade) experience for me, a whirlwind day, for sure, but I knew the day would eventually come.”
Eberle had never been traded before — he spent his entire junior hockey career with the Regina Pats before joining the Oilers.
Like the Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson trade at the end of last June, you’re entitled to ask: “Is that all the Oilers are getting?”
But we know how good Larsson was this past season as the top pairing right-side defenceman who makes $4.1 million to Hall’s $6 million. But that was Chiarelli emphatically saying he needed a right-shot D-man more than his passionate first-line left-winger. This was all about the money. Chiarelli talked up Eberle, 27, at his season-ending presser, writing off his playoff struggles (no goals, two assists) as a player trying to figure it out in the playoffs for the first time. He said he liked his play in the tough areas and, even in an off year, Eberle still finished third on the team with 51 regular season points. He was, at worst, their No. 2 right winger if Draisaitl plays at that position rather than at centre. Eberle scored 382 points here and four times managed 50 or more points in his seven seasons.
But this was a fiscal decision as the Oilers get ready to pick 22nd in the NHL draft, which is exactly where they were lucky enough to get Eberle in 2008.
Strome, the fifth overall selection in 2011, turns 24 next month. He’s had one 50-point year — in 2014-15 — but has just 58 points over the past 140 games. The key number is the $2.5 million salary, though, for one more season.
He’s got a good pedigree — the Mississauga, Ont., native was picked just behind Larsson and four spots back of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in 2011. But again, it’s a one-for-one trade of a more established player for a lesser known one.
Unlike the Hall trade, which caught people off-guard, talk of a potential Eberle deal has been front and centre since the season ended.
“We play in a sport where these things happen and you can’t expect, even if you want to, to play in one place your whole career,” Eberle said.
When asked if he thought he got traded because he makes $6 million, Eberle laughed.
“That’s probably more of a question for the general manager,” he said. “That’s not my job. I just play.”
He could be playing with friend John Tavares on the No. 1 line with Islanders. He also knows Andrew Ladd and Thomas Hickey from playing with them on Canadian teams.
“John and I have played together at the world juniors and world championships … John is obviously a generational player and the leader of that team,” said Eberle. “I’m excited to hopefully play with John. I think I’ve proven in the past I can score (four 20-goal seasons, one 34).
“I’ve had previous chemistry with John and he’s a very intelligent player. Maybe John thinks the game better than anybody in the league. I think he suits my game.
“New chapter, a fresh new start, I’m definitely not looking back.”
But of course, he did look in the rear-view mirror.
“I came in as a young kid and the Oilers gave me every opportunity to succeed. I totally appreciate that from the Katz family, the fans, the players, the coaches,” Eberle said. “I’m definitely appreciative. I grew up in Edmonton.”
His fondest memory isn’t his first NHL goal — a tally against the Calgary Flames in his first game that was named TSN highlight of the year — but making the playoffs with the Oilers this past season.
“It really would have sucked to play all that time in Edmonton without that opportunity,” he said.