New York Islanders: Eberle Agrees to 5-year Contract, $5.5M AAV

[Duanesutter12]

He was playing in a totally new system not suitable for his skill set. He also wasn't playing with Barzal for most of the year. I would say all things considered he wasn't that bad. This deal is a great bargain for a top 6 UFA!

He had zero chemistry with his line mates for the majority of last season. He’ll return to form this season.

 

[BelovedIsles]

But you expect him to duplicate his crappy regular season?

I don’t. If he plays w Barz, he’ll put up 50 (at least). They need a better LW for that line.

 

[PWJunior]

I don’t. If he plays w Barz, he’ll put up 50 (at least). They need a better LW for that line.

Leddy for Zucker, sign Panarin.

Panarin-Barzal-Eberle (Righty Tighty Line)
Zucker-Nelson-Bailey (Lefty Lucy Line)

 

[Taswell]

6th highest scoring right winger since his draft year I believe. I think 5.5 is a good price for that. Also, surprised/happy he was willing to make this commitment to the team without hearing other offers and took a pay cut.

 

[KasparsHipCheck]

I’m glad we signed Eberle. He performed well in the playoffs. It does surprise me that another guy has signed ahead of Captain Lee, but I’m sure Lou knows exactly what he’s doing, so I’m not worried with or without him next year.

 

[Islanders4Cups]

That's not why I think it's ridiculous. It seems as though the Islanders are going to lose another valuable piece. We continue to lose assets left and right without compensation. The way the contract is structured Eberle is very tradeable but its more likely Eberle will stay for the entire five years as long as he remains productive. My concern is the expansion draft.

Note Eberle will get paid $7M in 2021. Seattle will have to consider that.

 

[boredmale]

Note Eberle will get paid $7M in 2021. Seattle will have to consider that.

I am guessing when you are paying 500M for a expansion franchise and extra couple million won't kill you. lol

 

[Islanders4Cups]

I am guessing when you are paying 500M for a expansion franchise and extra couple million won't kill you. lol

They have to build a whole roster, consider whether they want to be competitive year 1 or bring in younger players. $7M in the expansion draft year may mean Lou may not have to protect him depending on the circumstances. Eberle will be 31 then.

 

[Goombha]

I didn't say it was indicative of his entire body of work. I implied it might very well be indicative on his future body of work, considering he's at the stage of his career when most players begin to decline (30) and he didn't have a good season going into his UFA year.

Yeah, tell that to Messier.

 

[Richie Daggers Crime]

Yeah, tell that to Messier.

You're right. I didn't consider Messier or even Jagr, now that I think about it. You flipped me, man.

 

[SI90]

He’s officially a Long Islander because he knows to say “on” Long Island.

 

[Goombha]

You're right. I didn't consider Messier or even Jagr, now that I think about it. You flipped me, man.

You actually get it, there's a first.

 

[periferal]

My thoughts...

1. I'd say "wow" to this, but that implies we thought Eberle was gone. We did, but why did we? Because certain media members who we thought had information told us so. Yeah turns out they didn't. Now we know... Eberle wanted to stay, Lou wanted him to, and they've been working on it since the end of the season.
2. Speaking of...Your boy Staple knows NOTHING. Literally just on Monday he wrote, "All indications are Eberle is headed for the open market unless he’s willing to take a short-term deal...And he has no reason to do so." He did even worse with Nelson. I mean Jesus. There's not being in the know, and then borderline making things up. I know he must continually produce content for The Athletic, but man is he in a tough position when news doesn't come out and he has to make blind predictions and pass them off as inside information.
3. Did you see who broke this story...? The Islanders Official Twitter account. Just like we've come to expect - They're the only ones we can trust for news.
4. The most shocking part of this deal is the AAV. 5.5M is 500K less than Eberle was making per year on his last contract. Do you know how rare it is for a top-6 winger still in his 20's to take less? Zero doubt in my mind Eberle left money/term on the table...And didn't even want to hear a sales pitch from any other team - Even to use as negotiating leverage. That tells me he really wants to be here (same with Nelson).
5. Lee has got to be feeling some pressure now. Two key UFAs left money on the table because they WANTED to stay. No question the Isles "won" both the Nelson and Eberle negotiations and they'd probably make it 3 if Lee resigns. Now we'll see how bad he wants to be here because no doubt the Isles have a (team friendly) offer on the table for him.
6. ...Or maybe Lee is ready to accept a deal, but Lou wants to flesh out Panarin first to see if he can land him and if so, then he would let Lee walk.
7. Perhaps most interesting in this deal is the fact that Eberle gets the first 2 years with a full no trade clause, and after that he eliminates 16 teams. Nelson got the same thing and to me when you see two identical things you see a pattern. So wondering why the Isles wanted to structure it this way? Feels like it might have something to do with Belmont. Like Lou/the Isles just want some stability until then and then they can have options when the building opens.
8. You can't help but wonder...If Tavares' contract ended this summer how much more likely would it be that he stays?
9. Still waiting for Lou to make a move where it feels like Garth Snow still isn't doing things in the front office.
   
10. Overall this is positive. Players want to stay here. The message is out. The Malkin/Ledecky era is starting to fix all that the wang/snow era destroyed. Bring it on.

 

[periferal]

UFAs taking paycuts to stay with the Isles, what a world.

I'd rather elite FAs come here for top dollar, but in rebranding your recently embarrassing franchise you gotta start somewhere.

 

[crasherino]

JMO, I think this is the move the team makes when they came to this decision that it’s more likely than not that the top few FAs were going elsewhere. If you can’t nab those guys, you might as well go with the Devil you know. Eberle had a great year his first one with the Isles. His second seed was disappointing with the Islanders but post season performance has gotten everyone fantasizing of what might be.

 

[GrandmaSlices51631]

My thoughts...

1. I'd say "wow" to this, but that implies we thought Eberle was gone. We did, but why did we? Because certain media members who we thought had information told us so. Yeah turns out they didn't. Now we know... Eberle wanted to stay, Lou wanted him to, and they've been working on it since the end of the season.
2. Speaking of...Your boy Staple knows NOTHING. Literally just on Monday he wrote, "All indications are Eberle is headed for the open market unless he’s willing to take a short-term deal...And he has no reason to do so." He did even worse with Nelson. I mean Jesus. There's not being in the know, and then borderline making things up. I know he must continually produce content for The Athletic, but man is he in a tough position when news doesn't come out and he has to make blind predictions and pass them off as inside information.
3. Did you see who broke this story...? The Islanders Official Twitter account. Just like we've come to expect - They're the only ones we can trust for news.
4. The most shocking part of this deal is the AAV. 5.5M is 500K less than Eberle was making per year on his last contract. Do you know how rare it is for a top-6 winger still in his 20's to take less? Zero doubt in my mind Eberle left money/term on the table...And didn't even want to hear a sales pitch from any other team - Even to use as negotiating leverage. That tells me he really wants to be here (same with Nelson).
5. Lee has got to be feeling some pressure now. Two key UFAs left money on the table because they WANTED to stay. No question the Isles "won" both the Nelson and Eberle negotiations and they'd probably make it 3 if Lee resigns. Now we'll see how bad he wants to be here because no doubt the Isles have a (team friendly) offer on the table for him.
6. ...Or maybe Lee is ready to accept a deal, but Lou wants to flesh out Panarin first to see if he can land him and if so, then he would let Lee walk.
7. Perhaps most interesting in this deal is the fact that Eberle gets the first 2 years with a full no trade clause, and after that he eliminates 16 teams. Nelson got the same thing and to me when you see two identical things you see a pattern. So wondering why the Isles wanted to structure it this way? Feels like it might have something to do with Belmont. Like Lou/the Isles just want some stability until then and then they can have options when the building opens.
8. You can't help but wonder...If Tavares' contract ended this summer how much more likely would it be that he stays?
9. Still waiting for Lou to make a move where it feels like Garth Snow still isn't doing things in the front office.
   
10. Overall this is positive. Players want to stay here. The message is out. The Malkin/Ledecky era is starting to fix all that the wang/snow era destroyed. Bring it on.

Great insights Perif - I'm all for having guys here who want to be here. Also, good point on Staple, he can discuss what's already transpired but his predictive ability into what the team may do is really bad, sometimes I read his predictions and it sounds like a Rangers fan or some troll - trading for Callahan? LOL

 

[majormet]

At first I was upset that we signed him, but as I think about it, he wants to play here... and the salary is not awful, going to be hard to get RW's for sure. I would think Lee is up next then Lehner, we may have a similar team to last year, continuity has value

 

[BelovedIsles]

Leddy for Zucker, sign Panarin.

Panarin-Barzal-Eberle (Righty Tighty Line)
Zucker-Nelson-Bailey (Lefty Lucy Line)

I’d love to go to war w that top 6.

 

[dlawong]

I thinks Ebs likes playing with Barzy and he & his wife both indicated that they really like Long Island. I am happy that he is back as you can never discount the value of chemistry. Caps is going up likely anyway & you will never know who may have that kind of chemistry with Barzy. I think he still got a few good offensive years left and if he hits open market another team will pay more for him.

So with this signing looks like Isles is going to for the 7F-3D Seattle expansion waiver option. I believe that one of the vet D will be traded likely either at the draft or before October.

Curious if they are trying hard to bring Lee back or if they have another UFA in mind to chase after.

 

[doublechili]

He’s officially a Long Islander because he knows to say “on” Long Island.

"...A millionaire, and his wife
A movie star
The Professor and Mary Ann
Here in Gilligan's Isle!"

 

[doublechili]

There's not being in the know, and then borderline making things up. I know he must continually produce content for The Athletic

Eberle likely not re-signing. S4

 

[doublechili]

Perhaps most interesting in this deal is the fact that Eberle gets the first 2 years with a full no trade clause, and after that he eliminates 16 teams. Nelson got the same thing and to me when you see two identical things you see a pattern. So wondering why the Isles wanted to structure it this way? Feels like it might have something to do with Belmont. Like Lou/the Isles just want some stability until then and then they can have options when the building opens.

I had the same suspicion and posted something similar. The NTC timing may not be a coincidence.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Someone way better than Jordan Eberle.

At your price of 11M per, he better be way better than Eberle. If you want to burn up capspace. At 5.5M per, not sure who you will find better?

Comparables.
— Josh Bailey: six years, $30 million, $5-million cap hit
— Jakob Silfverberg: five years, $26.25 million, $5.25-million cap hit
— Patric Hornqvist: five years, $26.5 million, $5.3-million cap hit
— Andrew Ladd: seven years, $38.5 million, $5.5-million cap hit
— James Neal: five years, $28.75 million, $5.75-million cap hit
— Alex Steen: four years, $23 million, $5.75-million cap hit
— Loui Eriksson: six years, $36 million, $6-million cap hit
— Milan Lucic: seven years, $42 million, $6-million cap hit
— Kyle Okposo: seven years, $42 million, $6-million cap hit

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Cap comparables: Eberle takes pay cut to stay with Islanders - Sportsnet.ca

 

[crashthenet]

Pretty fair deal IMO. 2nd line RW money. Would Dzingel or Nyqvist been an upgrade? Don't know about that. Told K. Weeks during the phone interview he went into the playoffs knowing he had something to prove. Really liked that.

Priorities - Goalie, Fix PP, Figure out the Lee piece.