THE WHIPPING BOY
7 years ago
We in Oil Country seem to have a compelling need to single out a player and make him the whipping boy for the shortcomings of the Edmonton Oilers, to channel our frustrations over the failure of the team through them. Given the 10 years of ineptitude fans here have endured watching the Oilers miss the playoffs each and every year since 2006, that’s understandable — even if it doesn’t make sense.
The latest in a long line of players inducted into that fraternity — one that pre-dates this decade of failure and includes names like Tom Poti, Jason Arnott, Sam Gagner, Jeff Petry, Tom Gilbert, and Justin Schultz, to name just six – is Jordan Eberle. He’s the new pledge. He’s the goat. He’s the whipping boy. Eberle makes a lot of money and the truth is he’s not playing particularly well right now. Let’s have at him.
All you need to do to know that is read the comments sections on websites like this one or listen to the radio call-in shows, particularly after the last two games during this recent slide after a 7-2-1 start – a 3-2 loss to Dallas Friday and a 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers Sunday. As an example, there’s plenty of venom in the comments section of an item Jason Gregor wrote here.
What I’m seeing, and what I’ve seen with other players before, is that, even allowing for the lunatic fringe that regurgitates the same tired spew for the hell of it and is to be ignored, is that the degree of criticism being levelled at Eberle is out of proportion to his actual performance, as mediocre as it’s been lately.
When we slip into Whipping Boy Mode, we tend to grab an aspect of the player’s game that’s flawed – he’s soft, he’s lazy, he’s slow, he won’t go to the tough areas etc. – and fixate on it rather than giving equal attention to what that player does well. We accentuate the negative. We pile on. That’s what we have here.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
There’s absolutely no question I haven’t liked much of what I’ve seen from Eberle lately, especially these last two games where his lack of willingness to hustle and engage was too often non-existent. There’s no getting around it. That said, some of us are getting carried away, as we tend to do. Lest I be labelled an Eberle fartcatcher for saying so, a few recent Tweets regarding same. The first one came after the loss to the Rangers. The other two came during the loss to Dallas.
I’m not turning a blind eye to Eberle’s shortcomings. The truth is, he lacks many of the attributes I value in players. He’s not big or tough or robust in the way he plays. It’s easy to focus on what Eberle is not, especially when he’s guilty of stuff like that half-assed attempt at back-checking against Dallas.
You don’t have to be big or tough or nasty to get in the way, to hustle back on that play against the Stars. There’s no excuse for it. Eberle is guilty as charged against Dallas, but let’s not let a play like that – OK, plays like that because he’s done it before and it has to stop – cloud everything we see, how we value other attributes the player brings to the table.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Warts and all, Eberle is a producer of points. If you’re of the mind to do so, you can debate when, how and why he produces those points, but when you add everything up, he delivers. Eberle has scored 5-7-12 in 16 games this season, second only to Connor McDavid, who has 5-14-19. By the numbers, this last stretch in which he’s scored 2-4-6 in the last six games, isn’t his worst. He went without a point in five games, Oct. 23-Nov. 1.
If you want to yank Eberle off McDavid’s line for a stretch or sit him to send a message, as coach Todd McLellan did, fine. No way Eberle should be exempt from paying a price for dogging it. If you’d like to see Pitlick get a look alongside McDavid, that’s all good, too. Hustle and effort, like results, should be rewarded, just as lack of same should be punished.
Beyond that, though, let’s not lose grip of what’s what in the big picture. Eberle, even with his flaws and the lapses that can drive you to distraction, is the best right winger the Oilers have. He’s the most skilled. He’s the most productive. It’s not even close. Jesse Puljujarvi might be that guy one day in the not-too-distant future, but the big Finn is not that guy now.
Let’s not lose track of what Eberle is and what he means to this team because of what he’s not. That often, as we’ve seen too many times around here, ends badly.
Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TEAM 1260.
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