The Edmonton Oilers are not the same team they were last season as the loss of Jordan Eberle becomes more glaring with each passing game.
In a puzzling move over the offseason, the Edmonton Oilers decided to trade Jordan Eberle to the New York Islanders for Ryan Strome. Eberle, the player once considered a major building block for the franchise, was shipped out of town. Just like his former teammate Taylor Hall was the previous year.
However, unlike the Hall trade, he wasn’t traded for a much-needed defenseman. Instead, Eberle got exchanged for an inconsistent forward. Although the Oilers may wish they had Hall today, it was at least understood how badly Edmonton’s defense needed improving and so the swap of Hall for Adam Larsson made sense.
The swap of Eberle for Strome doesn’t make much sense. Especially since the latter has only managed to produce one 50-point season in his four-year career. Meanwhile, in Eberle’s seven-year career he’s managed to produce 50 points or more in four seasons. He also just narrowly missed out on two other 50-point seasons.
More from Puck Prose
- Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
- This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
- 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
- 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
- This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings
Through 15 games this season Eberle has managed to produce 12 points with his new club. He’d currently be tied for second on Edmonton in scoring. Meanwhile, in 15 games Strome has only managed five points this season which would put him in a tie for tenth in Islanders’ scoring along with four other players.
Clearly, Eberle is the better forward. But maybe Edmonton made the trade for cap reasons?
Eberle is making $6 million this season and next season as well. Strome is only making $2.5 million this season and is a restricted free agent at the end of the year. It’d make sense to dump Eberle’s contract given Connor McDavid has a new contract extension kicking in next season that’ll see him earn $12.5 million per season. On top of Leon Draisaitl’s new contract worth $8.5 million per year signed just prior to the start of the season.
The problem with taking on Strome is his free agency at the end of this season. Even if Strome gets red-hot and lights up the league for the rest of the regular season, the Oilers are still going to have to pay him. Just like how the Oilers were paying Eberle only they were getting production out of Eberle.
Strome’s expiring contract didn’t help solve any future cap concerns so there was no rush to move Eberle. The team was always going to have to do major roster juggling after the 2017-18 season in order to handle the new McDavid and Draisaitl contracts.
Edmonton also wasn’t in cap trouble this season as the team still currently has roughly $10-million in cap space. The Oilers could have played out the season with Eberle and potentially used the extra time to dump Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Milan Lucic on another team. Both players with the same $6-million cap hit as Eberle only both players are nowhere close to Eberle in earning the cap hit.
As a result of being too quick to move Eberle, the Oilers lost a fan favorite and one of the only other forwards who could be relied on. Unless McDavid and Draisaitl are producing for Edmonton, the Oilers aren’t winning many games. Eberle would have changed that. Eberle would have scored for the Oilers when McDavid didn’t in six games after the season opener, six games that saw Edmonton lose all but one.
He’s also a proven power-play specialist scoring double-digit power-play points in three of the past four seasons. Given the Oilers sit second-last in power-play goals with only six and are tied for 27th in the league in power-play percentage at only 13.3%, the former Oiler would certainly help improve those numbers.
Next: 3 Bold Predictions For The Oilers
Eberle could have been the Phil Kessel to McDavid’s Sidney Crosby and Draisaitl’s Evgeni Malkin. The former all-star is a player who could lead his own line and produce when his star teammates are having an off night.
With only a $6-million cap hit and the Oilers desperate for offensive depth, there was simply no need to move Eberle when Edmonton did.