Oilers trade Jordan Eberle to Islanders

The New York Islanders are reportedly expected to acquire Jordan Eberle from the Edmonton Oilers. 

The Edmonton Oilers, looking to upgrade their team, have been shopping forward Jordan Eberle. From day one, the New York Islanders made a ton of sense as a suitor. After all, they need to add scoring to help out captain John Tavares. According to Darren Dreger, the Islanders and Oilers are close to a trade that would sent Eberle to New York.

Seeing Ryan Strome as the lone piece of the return is a bit surprising. One would have imagined the Islanders sending a defenseman to the Oilers, especially with Andrej Sekera out for a while. Strome is a very intriguing young forward who perhaps would benefit from a change of scenery, but still, the Oilers are trading a talented forward for a less talented (though less expensive) one. The Islanders forward put up 30 points last season in 69 games. Meanwhile, Eberle put up 51 points in 82 games.

Edmonton gets the lesser player, and cap space wasn’t going to be a huge issue for them next season anyway. However, it is worth noting Eberle might have hurt their chances of extending Connor McDavid, among others, next offseason. Meanwhile, the Islanders get a quality wing, hopefully to play alongside Tavares. And he’s one who you can pencil in for 20 goals a season. That’s a lot harder to find than people think.

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Eberle has two years remaining on his deal, with a $6 million cap hit each season. Meanwhile, Strome has one year left with a $2.5 million cap hit before becoming a restricted free agent. It seems the Oilers were content to get rid of Eberle’s cap hit. However, one has to question if they could have gotten more for him. Right now, it looks like the Islanders got the better player, so they win the trade for now.