Isles Acquire Jordan Eberle In Swap For Ryan Strome
WHAT a 24 hours it has been for this team and it’s fanbase. Following last night’s move to dump Grabovski’s contract on Vegas everyone expected to wake up and have the trades start rolling out at 8:01 when the trade-freeze was lifted. Granted, it took some time, but low and behold Garth pulled yet another rabbit out of his hat and acquired Jordan Eberle for Ryan Strome, straight-fucking-up.
After a good 20 minutes of digesting the fact that JT might finally have his elite winger [shouts out to Andrew Ladd] and the additional 15 minutes of bracing for the Duchene hat to fall next [it didn’t] it hit me of just how lopsided this trade is.
Strome was a great player in his time here. He’s a talented mid-6 Forward who, with change of scenery and a coach who just might know what he’s doing, has a lot to offer. He got a bad wrap because Cappy had no idea how to use him nor handle him during his rough-stretches and I hadn’t given up on him just yet, but regardless, he is no Jordan Eberle.
Strome
Eberle
The fact that this deal was a one-for-one has me dumbfounded. Yes, Edmonton gets a smaller cap-hit [Strome’s $2.5M to Eberle’s $6M] as well as control over the 23-year old who will be an RFA next summer, but what they’re giving up for a player who has yet to live up to his lone 50 point year is astonishing, though I can see why it happened. It allows them to throw the book at McDavid and not worry about the repercussions, which at the end of the day should be Edmonton’s #1 priority [trust me I know how important re-signing generational talents is].
As for what the Islanders are getting back… it’s a player Isles fans have been clamoring about for legitimately years. A 27 year old with two years left on his contract, who has shown signs of, dare I say, tremendous chemistry alongside JT, his newest linemate. At $6M flat I can’t see him asking for much more come 2019 but that’s a bridge we’ll cross when we get there.
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For right now, the Isles have a perennial 50 point scorer to play alongside one of the best Centers in the game. If Lee can continue to find the back of the net the same way he did last year, JT to come out of the gate hot, and Eberle to fit right into his new role alongside his good friend Johnny, the Isles might have their most legit 1st Line in years.
Sorry not sorry Bails.
As for what’s next, Uncle Bob reported that talks with the Avs have slowed down but all signs point to Hammer getting dealt for yet another Forward. At this point so much is up in the air and is so rapidly changing that I’m not sure what to believe will happen, but point being, Garth ain’t done yet.