Throughout the summer and into the fall, we’ll be counting down the days until the Edmonton Oilers begin their 2023-24 season with a daily trip down memory lane. Today at No. 14 we have Jordan Eberle, the “E” from “H.O.P.E.”

The Oilers selected Eberle with the 22nd overall selection in the 2008 draft, the pick they had received as compensation when the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007 after trading for Chris Pronger.

Eberle put up good results playing for the Regina Pats in the WHL but he really made a name for himself as a prospect during the World Juniors.

He scored 13 points in six games for Canada in 2009 and came up with a clutch game-tying goal in the dying moments of their semi-final game with Russia. Eberle then scored a goal and two assists in the Gold Medal game as Canada took down Sweden with a 5-1 victory.

The following year, Eberle played alongside soon-to-be top draft pick Taylor Hall and again scored 13 points for Canada, though the team lost to the United States in the final. Eberle was named tournament MVP and top forward at the 2010 World Juniors and he sits tied with Brayden Schenn as Canada’s third all-time leading scorer at the tournament with 26 points.

 

Eberle made a seamless transition to the NHL. He led the Oilers in scoring during his rookie season in 2010-11 with 43 points in 69 games and he broke out with 34 goals and 76 points over 78 games in 2011-12. After that second season, he inked a six-year, $36 million contract extension that would start in 2013-14 after his entry-level contract expired.

Though the Oilers struggled to come out of their rebuilding years and compete for a playoff spot, Eberle still produced at a high level for the team. He scored 37 points in 48 games in the shortened 2013 season, 65 points in 80 games in 2013-14, 63 points in 81 games in 2014-15, and 47 points in 69 games in 2015-16, but the Oilers missed the playoffs in each of those seasons.

In 2016-17, the Oilers made it back into the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Eberle had a strong regular season, as he scored 20 goals and 51 points in 82 games, but he was held to just two assists across 13 games against the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks in the playoffs.

During the off-season, the Oilers needed to open up salary cap room and Eberle’s poor result in the playoffs ultimately resulted in general manager Peter Chiarelli choosing him to be one of the cap casualties. Eberle was traded to the New York Islanders in exchange for Ryan Strome.

He scored 44 goals and 96 points for the Islanders between 2017-18 and 2018-19 and signed a five-year contract extension worth $5.5 million annually. After reaching the Eastern Conference Final with the Islanders in 2020 and 2021, Eberle again became a salary cap casualty, this time through the Expansion Draft.

The Seattle Kraken made Eberle their pick from the Islanders and he was among the team’s featured players when they were introduced in the summer of 2021. Eberle scored 21 goals and 44 points for Seattle in their first season and he scored 20 goals and 63 points last season.

All told, Eberle has played 940 games in the NHL and has 282 goals and 658 points. He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2024.