A strong sample size of Edmonton Oilers armchair general managers want Jordan Eberle gone. A poor regular season performance coupled with zero goals in 13 playoffs games cannot justify his $6 million salary. He's the whipping boy of the current season. It was formerly Justin Schultz, Shawn Horcoff, and Devan Dubnyk. It is an annual tradition in Edmonton, and probably most major hockey markets, to find the weakest link and trade him. But, he's useless, according to Oilers fans, so what team would want him? In this man's opinion, if the Oilers decide to offer him up at the expansion draft or trade Eberle, there would be a strong list of teams that would be willing to acquire the 6-million dollar man but the list of teams willing to offer fair value for Eberle would be short, extremely short.
In finance, herd mentality offers up big opportunities. When the market is selling, long-term investors can find discounts on strong assets, and this is similar in sports. From the Oilers perspective, Jordan's stock value is low, at least in this city's eye, but what is our junk is going to be another city's treasure. And other GMs know this and will give the team as little as possible because they know everything outlined below.
Jordan Eberle completed his 7th season in the NHL with 51 points in a full campaign. Compared to his professional career, this is definitely below his average. He has 3 seasons with more than 51 points and 3 seasons with fewer than 51 points, but in the worse seasons, Eberle played just 69 games twice and the other season was the NHL lockout. So, on a points-per-game basis, this was his worst.
Jordan Eberle finished 94th in the NHL in points, 88th by forwards, 21st by right wings, and 3rd on the team. There were a total of 888 skaters that recorded one game played in the year. 94th puts him in the top 11% of the league in points-production. And players that finished with 53-49 points include Corey Perry, Taylor Hall, Anze Kopitar, Henrik Sedin, Joe Thornton, and Jason Spezza. Are you surprised to see a list of elite players (subjective) that surround Eberle's name in the standings? Or were you expecting to see the likes of Alex Chiasson, Mike Fisher, and Max Domi? No offense to these players either.
That list of elite players also have one thing in common. They are all paid at least 6 million USD. If Jordan Eberle's poor results do not justify his salary, then that is your opinion. Businesses and NHL GMs need more than just an opinion before making any decision and the facts do not support how poorly a season fans claim.
Here is the fact: if we look at it on a point-production basis, Jordan Eberle would be a first line right-winger on at least ten teams and a guaranteed second liner on all. Although there are players that make less money and produced more, there is a longer list of players that make more money and produced less.
If Oiler fans feel the need to blame the Oilers failures on Jordan Eberle or criticize his season, go ahead, you have every right. But replacing Jordan Eberle holds very little merit when we consider the data from around the league. In fact, compared to Thornton, Kopitar, and Spezza, Eberle's salary is a steal. If you want him gone and replaced with another right winger, try to find one on the market that has an opportunity to come to Edmonton for cheaper and produce more points. Because right now, the only noise I'm hearing are complaints that do not come with any solutions.
