IS THIS BOLD ENOUGH FOR YOU?
By Lowetide
9 years ago
Jordan Eberle is a big part of the Oilers’ young cluster of quality players charged with finding a way into the playoffs and beyond. Or is he?
BRUCE GARRIOCH, OTTAWA SUN
- Keep hearing the Oilers are listening to offers for winger Jordan
Eberle. Do me a favour, call GM Craig MacTavish to get a denial.
“Listening to offers” is miles from ‘shopping’ and Garrioch often titillates but there’s no sense an Eberle trade is likely to come true. What we do know is that GM Craig MacTavish stated during the preseason this was going to be a big year for Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
- MacT: ” (Nuge and Eberle) have a lot of room
for growth. … We need to see whether they’re going to be good players or
whether they’re going to be star players.” Source
I think this is a big season for both Nuge and Eberle, but the organization is extremely likely to hold on to both long term. Both are signed and committed, and both have chemistry with Taylor Hall on a top drawer line. Edmonton has problems, but they don’t need a long term solution for 2C (Leon Draisaitl) or D (Marincin, Klefbom, Nurse) because help is on the way.
This rumor doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, suspect there’s nothing shaking on Eberle.
ON THE OTHER HAND….
This is a stronger rumor and Petry is a name we’ve been following for some time. The Flyers really are up against it for defensemen, and they do have some nice center elements. The problem I have with the rumor is twofold:
- Edmonton is not dealing from a position of strength in contemplating a Petry trade
- The Flyers C solutions are all long term ones
I think we may see Petry dealt, but am unsure about the return. He is a free agent next summer and that negatively impacts his value in a big way. I believe there’s a good chance Petry is dealt for a return similar to what the Oilers received for Ales Hemsky at last year’s trade deadline: A third-round pick and a fifth-round selection.
Jeff Petry has significant value, but it is greatly reduced because the team trading for him controls the player for 75 (or so) games.
(Eberle photo by Rob Ferguson, all rights reserved)
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