Isles deal Ryan Strome to Oilers for Eberle

[yave1964]

  Two players in need of a change of scenery were dealt for each other earlier today and I thought it was worth a mention. 

 

Jordan Eberle is the latest former top pick moved out by the Oilers leaving the way of Yakupov and Hall and promising defenseman Schultz who have all been shown the door leaving Ryan Nugent Hopkins as the last of the core of five who were supposed to turn the franchise around. Eberle was dealt to the Oilers for promising but frustrating winger Ryan Strome.

 

  Both have struggled to find their game with their previous teams and a lot of folk are saying that it is a win win for both receiving a change of scenery. My personal opinion is that the Oilers clearly win the deal in spite of Eberle sounding giddy to play with Tavares.

 

  The two can be summed up as follows, Eberle has been handed top line jobs for years with RNH, Hall and McDavid and continues to frustratingly come up short so I see no reason to think that a change from McDavid to Tavares is going to change anything.

 

  Strome on the other hand has been somewhat of the Islanders whipping boy, seldom moving up beyond the third line and when he is it is with a very short leash. He has lost his confidence and IMHO has been used poorly. The Isles say that he blows assignments and doesnt get back in transition fast enough well apparently they have never seen Eberle play.

 

  I predict a 45-50 point year from Eberle with deficiencies of note. I predict 55ish points out of Strome who will thrive in a top six role with either Draisatl or McDavid feeding him the puck regularly. Younger and cheaper, I see this as a clear win for the Oilers, not even close.Strome should be jumping for joy at the chance to get away from that craziness in Brooklyn.

 

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Agreed on giving the Oilers a bit of an edge, or "win" on this trade, if you will.

 

Strome basically is still learning the full NHL game and his upside is still pretty high...especially given the better talent line to line that there is on the Oilers compared to the Islanders.

Now...if Strome STILL can't find his game with Edmonton (I'd give him about 2 or 3 more seasons to get his 'superstar schtick' together), then there could be something wrong with him.

 

But you know, Strome, in his very early twenties still, over the last three seasons with the thin rostered Islanders:

17 G, 50 Pts over 81 games

8G, 28 Pts over 71 games

13G, 30 Pts over 69 games

 

That's actually not too shabby for a young guy like him at the NHL level still learning.

Of course, what IS working against him is the fact that he was a former one pick and thus expectations for him are sky high, and also, that 50 pt season over 81 games had people expecting him to go UP from there...not slide back like he did the following two seasons...basically, he set his OWN bar pretty high with that first nice season.

 

Still though, his Juniors and Bridgeport numbers suggest he has the tools...and he was a 1st rounder for a reason, so there is hope that playing with equally young talent in Edmonton can grow his game some more.

 

As for Eberle, he DEFINITELY needed the change from the Oilers.

Talented, but only showing up in spurts, he WILL be hard pressed however, to put up good numbers yet again...but this time, because the Isles are simply NOT a deep team at forward.

 

John Tavares? Sure. Eberle SHOULD be happy to be able to play with him...but beyond that? Not much else in the way of elite, or close to elite talent on the forward units. That will put pressure on that top line and they either carry the team, or the team struggles. Simple as that.

Also, how long will John Tavares stay in Brooklyn?

 

If Tavares leaves, that makes EBERLE the go-to guy.......probably not a good thing if you are an Islander fan.

 

Good deal for both teams, but I too give the Oilers a leg up here simply because they have a good solid core in place (as shown by this past seasons' playoff run) and Strome should find his stride a bit easier there than Eberle will with New York...unless Tavares has a monster season and Eberle can reap those benefits, and add his own talents to his captain's run.

 

[MadDevil]

I go the other way and give the Isles a leg up, at least in the short term. Eberle has been a 13.8% shooter over the course of his career, until this year when he dropped to 9.6%, and still scored 20 goals. I think it's reasonable to assume his shooting percentage will rebound next year. Plus it gives Tavares a winger to play with, and shows they're committed to winning something soon. Strome is, at least to me, a downgrade. He is still young and has room for improvement, but I don't think he'll be as good as Eberle. Financially it makes sense for the Oilers though since they'll be backing up the bank truck to McDavid's house soon.

[JR Ewing]

On 2017-05-04 at 11:52 AM, JR Ewing said:

Jordan Eberle is far from finished as a player, but ducking a hit which results in a goal is inexcusable, and I wouldn't be shocked if the die is now cast with his future in Edmonton. Peter Chiarelli, two weeks on the job with the Oilers, saw Martin Marincin do that in an AHL playoff game, and dealt him at the draft. Given that Slepyshev is outplaying him from the 4th line, I wouldn't be shocked if Eberle is available, and also fetches much less than people around Edmonton think he can get. That sequence is going to replay in Peter Chiarelli's head all summer long. It's not as if Eberle's been otherwise solid, and this play stood out as a singular example. He's soft, and it's killing the team right now. A blurb I came across last night: since Nov 8, he's scored only 3 goals against playoff teams. Klefbom mentioned that he thought Hall wasn't there against good teams (this was untrue, btw, I checked) but what would he think of Eberle upon hearing this?

I think the Oilers come out a bit short on the player end of things in this deal, all the way around, but come out far ahead in terms of cap space and bringing in a reasonable bet. Strome was a 1.5ish Pts/60 player, and Eberle was at 1.75, and Strome didn't get nearly the opportunity which Eberle received. With McDavid and Draisaitl's contracts to negotiate, a defenseman (probably Russell) to sign, and Sekera to replace for half a year, they simply didn't have a spare $3.5M to spend on the credits and debits of what Eberle brings. Between Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins, who has more nuance to his game, it's a no-brainer.