Report: Oilers taking offers on big name forward

Trade rumors have circled Edmonton Oilers forward Jordan Eberle for weeks. A poor post-season performance combined with a $6 million annual cap hit have all but sunk the former 30+ goal scorer to the point where TSN’s Darren Dreger reports, “he’ll definitely get traded.”

On TSN’s Insider Trading, Dreger reported, “I’m told that there are offers on the table for Jordan Eberle, but nothing that Peter Chiarelli, the general manager of the Oilers, is willing to accept just yet. But it goes back to Draisaitl and McDavid and the finances involved, right? I mean, Jordan Eberle still has two years remaining on his contract at $6 million per, so it sounds like he’ll definitely get traded.”

So, who’s making these offers?

Dreger continued, “And there’s teams out there like the New York Islanders, as an example, who are looking for a top-six forward. So sometimes change for the sake of change is good, and that might be the case for Jordan Eberle to get out of Edmonton. For the sake of having some fun and throwing a name out there, we know that Travis Hamonic is in play. The Islanders are going to have to do something with a defenseman. It’s either Calvin De Haan or Travis Hamonic because they can’t protect four of those guys – they can only protect three. And they want a top-six guy in return. For the cost certainty that you get in Travis Hamonic – man, if you could swing that deal I think I’d make it work.”

Interesting. Certainly on the surface, the runway seems to be cleared for an Oilers/Islanders swap, but it’s early still. As the offseason wears on, more and more teams will begin to address their needs moving forward and the market for Eberle’s services may expand. Stay tuned, Oilers fans. This one’s not over by a long shot.