Player Discussion Jordan Eberle

[backhandsauce]

Seeing as Eberle scores like 80% of his goals from the left side, why not give

Eberle - McDavid - Yak

a try? McDavid skates the puck up with a lethal one timer on either side. 2 guys on their off wing might be not so good defensively, but it could be fun to watch on offense.

That line needs Pouliot to do the dirty work. He retrieves pucks so well.

 

[Up the Irons]

Not really. Line caught fire in March with the season over. Nuge had 17 of his pts in one month. Only 38 prior to that.

Last year at this time the same questions were being asked of Nuge as this year.

Really evident how much better service we now have with McDavid and Draisaitl.

it is evident. Just look at the ability of these two, younger Cs, and how they can generate offensive on their own, and by distributing the puck.

 

[backhandsauce]

Does anyone think Eberle could score 50 next year as long as he and 97 stay healthy?

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Does anyone think Eberle could score 50 next year as long as he and 97 stay healthy?

id be surprised if he didnt

 

[Aceboogie]

7 goals in 7 games with McDavid

Assuming a) hes healthy b) his shooting % doesnt crumble to 3% c) hes paired with McDavid ES and PP

I dont think its a major, major stretch. However the chances of all those things coming together are not that great

I say 40 goals would be great. He hit 34 with higher s% and a dominant RNH on the PP

 

[Senor Catface]

Pouliot - RNH - Purcell
Hall - McDavid - Slepy

Pressbox: Yakupov, Eberle

I posted this all the way back then as kind of a joke about how fast people turned on players, but he seems to be really popular again. Imagine that...the guy who leads our team in points 3 out of his 5 seasons is doing well again.

 

[tikkanen]

To be fair to Ebs he was producing reasonably well in the 15 or so games he played before the return of the chosen one-so was Pouliot. Hall on the other hand has been less then half a point a game for the last 25 games-same for Drai and Purcell. These guys have laid an egg and splitting them up wouldn't be so bad but then you screw up the chemistry of the MEP line. Why does it always seem like we are rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic?

 

[bucks_oil]

To be fair to Ebs he was producing reasonably well in the 15 or so games he played before the return of the chosen one-so was Pouliot. Hall on the other hand has been less then half a point a game for the last 25 games-same for Drai and Purcell. These guys have laid an egg and splitting them up wouldn't be so bad but then you screw up the chemistry of the MEP line. Why does it always seem like we are rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic?

Half a point per game for the last 25!!! Drai AND Hall in that category?!?

WOW! I hadn't realized it was that bad.

Seems to me like the reason we are rearranging deck chairs is that we can't get healthy bodies in the lineup at the same time. We have three legit scoring lines when we are healthy AND if we could get a puck mover or two.

It's too bad we'll need to ship out assets from the 3rd scoring line (Ebs/Yak or Nuge) in order to fix the D. If we could somehow just trade 1st and futures for Shatty/Hamonic/Fowler and then sign Yandle we'd be home free.

I'd be willing to mortgage ALOT of the future for 2 D-men and to keep the group of 6 together (McD, Yak, Hall, Ebs, RNH, Drai). Pipe dream I suppose.

Back on topic,.... we've not even seen Ebs in the playoffs. We're going to really miss him when we see him on a contender not named Edmonton.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

Half a point per game for the last 25!!! Drai AND Hall in that category?!?

WOW! I hadn't realized it was that bad.

Seems to me like the reason we are rearranging deck chairs is that we can't get healthy bodies in the lineup at the same time. We have three legit scoring lines when we are healthy AND if we could get a puck mover or two.

It's too bad we'll need to ship out assets from the 3rd scoring line (Ebs/Yak or Nuge) in order to fix the D. If we could somehow just trade 1st and futures for Shatty/Hamonic/Fowler and then sign Yandle we'd be home free.

I'd be willing to mortgage ALOT of the future for 2 D-men and to keep the group of 6 together (McD, Yak, Hall, Ebs, RNH, Drai). Pipe dream I suppose.

Back on topic,.... we've not even seen Ebs in the playoffs. We're going to really miss him when we see him on a contender not named Edmonton.

If Eberle ever makes it to 1 year left on his contract without extension in place... He would be a huge deadline pickup.

 

[McOilers97]

Half a point per game for the last 25!!! Drai AND Hall in that category?!?

WOW! I hadn't realized it was that bad.

Seems to me like the reason we are rearranging deck chairs is that we can't get healthy bodies in the lineup at the same time. We have three legit scoring lines when we are healthy AND if we could get a puck mover or two.

It's too bad we'll need to ship out assets from the 3rd scoring line (Ebs/Yak or Nuge) in order to fix the D. If we could somehow just trade 1st and futures for Shatty/Hamonic/Fowler and then sign Yandle we'd be home free.

I'd be willing to mortgage ALOT of the future for 2 D-men and to keep the group of 6 together (McD, Yak, Hall, Ebs, RNH, Drai). Pipe dream I suppose.

Back on topic,.... we've not even seen Ebs in the playoffs. We're going to really miss him when we see him on a contender not named Edmonton.

This team will never be any good with that as a top 6. They'll spend every game against the Kings/Ducks dumping the puck in and never retrieving it. Keep McDavid, Hall, Draisaitl and one of Eberle/RNH (or trade both) and along with upgrading the D, bring in 3 top 9 forwards with more competitiveness.

 

[bucks_oil]

This team will never be any good with that as a top 6. They'll spend every game against the Kings/Ducks dumping the puck in and never retrieving it. Keep McDavid, Hall, Draisaitl and one of Eberle/RNH (or trade both) and along with upgrading the D, bring in 2-3 top 9 forwards with more competitiveness.

If you'd read my post completely you'd know that I was suggesting those 6 players being part of a top 9 (3 scoring lines) implication being with complementary puck retrievers on each line.

Then keep a solid, limited offense 4th checking line to pound teams to submission.

If we can get decent value on the returns of Ebs, RNH or Yak, I'm all for trading them for D help... but if these boards are to be believed (and I know that's not a wise assumption, but) then we might be better off keeping them and finding D through trading our top-5 pick (that's +1D) and UFA (another +1D).

 

[McOilers97]

If you'd read my post completely you'd know that I was suggesting those 6 players being part of a top 9 (3 scoring lines) implication being with complementary puck retrievers on each line.

Then keep a solid, limited offense 4th checking line to pound teams to submission.

If we can get decent value on the returns of Ebs, RNH or Yak, I'm all for trading them for D help... but if these boards are to be believed (and I know that's not a wise assumption, but) then we might be better off keeping them and finding D through trading our top-5 pick (that's +1D) and UFA (another +1D).

To which I would reply without hesitation that 3 scoring lines is a pipe dream.

These players are good but only a few of them (Hall, McDavid) are proven drivers.
RNH as the focal point of a scoring line isn't going to deliver on a consistent basis.
Eberle needs a superior player on his line.
Pouliot is a 3rd wheel (can be great, but very inconsistently).
Yakupov can't get his **** together.
And Draisaitl may or may not end up being a driver (although he does look like he's trending in the right direction).

What we'd have with a "3 scoring lines" approach are two scoring lines and a 3rd that can't accomplish a whole lot. There aren't enough minutes to go around, and these players aren't all as talented as you think they are.

Move out some of the complementary top 6 and spend that money on D and cheaper, slightly less skilled but more competitive top 6.

 

[Aerrol]

To which I would reply without hesitation that 3 scoring lines is a pipe dream.

These players are good but only a few of them (Hall, McDavid) are proven drivers.
RNH as the focal point of a scoring line isn't going to deliver on a consistent basis.
Eberle needs a superior player on his line.
Pouliot is a 3rd wheel (can be great, but very inconsistently).
Yakupov can't get his **** together.
And Draisaitl may or may not end up being a driver (although he does look like he's trending in the right direction).

What we'd have with a "3 scoring lines" approach are two scoring lines and a 3rd that can't accomplish a whole lot. There aren't enough minutes to go around, and these players aren't all as talented as you think they are.

Move out some of the complementary top 6 and spend that money on D and cheaper, slightly less skilled but more competitive top 6.

I see this parroted a lot, but I have yet to be convinced. I guess it really falls on what level of scoring you require for a line to be considered to be a 'scoring line'. Teams this year that I'd consider to have 3 scoring lines: Washington, Dallas, LA, Tampa, Minnesota, St Louis ... I can go on. Chicago in 2010 absolutely had 3 scoring lines, arguably in 2013 as well. Last year they shifted between 2 and 3 scoring lines as Quennville saw fit. As you can see, lots of different styles, but all of those teams tend to play 3 lines that are a very health chance to score when they're out there. Minnesota is the most questionable of my list, but when they're 'on', they're playing a 3 scoring line sort of team.

For me, a 'scoring line' is a line that's a threat to score, not necessarily one scoring every game. Minutes? Play the hot hand, give minutes to the line that's playing well. Not to mention it lets you cut back on minutes for a weak 4th line that can only get the puck out and do not much else. I think it's very much possible with the pieces we have plus some tweaking up front (and a real top pairing on the back end). In fact, I think it's probably the ideal for us given what we have already - a lot of skilled players. Sure, we need to change the makeup, but attempting to totally revamp things is just making more work rather than playing to one of the few strengths our lineup has.

And as for the response I'm expecting to get of "well if they're so good at scoring, why don't we score more?", I just will go back to the defence. You're never going to get much chance to score if your dmen can never get you the puck on the fly. We need to get a real top-pairing puckmover desperately and I'm of course comfortable with trading our forwards for one. But there's no point refusing to play/build 3 scoring lines before that trade happens. Concentrating our skill on one or two lines just makes us easier to shut down. I'd say McLellan agrees too, based on how he's been shuffling lines around. There's always a 'scorer'/skill player on each of the top 3 lines.

 

[Mr Positive]

This team will never be any good with that as a top 6. They'll spend every game against the Kings/Ducks dumping the puck in and never retrieving it. Keep McDavid, Hall, Draisaitl and one of Eberle/RNH (or trade both) and along with upgrading the D, bring in 3 top 9 forwards with more competitiveness.

Until we have a competent D I don't think that's certain at all. If we can have an above average D that can move the puck and even shoot from the point then those 6 players might start clicking in a big way.

 

[McOilers97]

I see this parroted a lot, but I have yet to be convinced. I guess it really falls on what level of scoring you require for a line to be considered to be a 'scoring line'. Teams this year that I'd consider to have 3 scoring lines: Washington, Dallas, LA, Tampa, Minnesota, St Louis ... I can go on. Chicago in 2010 absolutely had 3 scoring lines, arguably in 2013 as well. Last year they shifted between 2 and 3 scoring lines as Quennville saw fit. As you can see, lots of different styles, but all of those teams tend to play 3 lines that are a very health chance to score when they're out there. Minnesota is the most questionable of my list, but when they're 'on', they're playing a 3 scoring line sort of team.

For me, a 'scoring line' is a line that's a threat to score, not necessarily one scoring every game. Minutes? Play the hot hand, give minutes to the line that's playing well. Not to mention it lets you cut back on minutes for a weak 4th line that can only get the puck out and do not much else. I think it's very much possible with the pieces we have plus some tweaking up front (and a real top pairing on the back end). In fact, I think it's probably the ideal for us given what we have already - a lot of skilled players. Sure, we need to change the makeup, but attempting to totally revamp things is just making more work rather than playing to one of the few strengths our lineup has.

And as for the response I'm expecting to get of "well if they're so good at scoring, why don't we score more?", I just will go back to the defence. You're never going to get much chance to score if your dmen can never get you the puck on the fly. We need to get a real top-pairing puckmover desperately and I'm of course comfortable with trading our forwards for one. But there's no point refusing to play/build 3 scoring lines before that trade happens. Concentrating our skill on one or two lines just makes us easier to shut down. I'd say McLellan agrees too, based on how he's been shuffling lines around. There's always a 'scorer'/skill player on each of the top 3 lines.

I see where you're coming from, but in my mind, a differentiation must be made between being a skill player, and being able to drive an offensive line.

Is Eberle a skill player? Hell yes. Can he drive a line? Hell no.

Once you really look at the players that this team has, it becomes pretty clear that being talented isn't going to be enough. With the group of forwards we have now, any line that doesn't have Hall or McDavid on it isn't going to produce as much as they look like they should be able to on paper. That's all I'm trying to say.

The skill of our top 7/8 forwards is undeniable, but the lineup really starts to thin out when you realize that only 2 (potentially 3 - Draisaitl) have the ability to be gamebreakers. And this team needs to surround their gamebreakers with complementary players that bring more than just soft-skill.

Out of Eberle/Yakupov/RNH/Pouliot/Kassian group, I figure that Kassian and Eberle fill a need for this team. Kassian plays the type of game that we need more of, and Eberle (for all the holes in his game, which he deserves a ton of **** for) is a great finisher. The others are easy to play against/don't do anything at an elite enough level and could stand to be upgraded.

For all the effort that RNH puts into being a two-way player, he is soft as butter.

Pouliot forechecks hard (at times to the point of stupidity) but is soft along the boards.

Yakupov just can't piss a drop more than once every 5 games.

Basically, I'm saying that this group of forwards on paper >>>>> this group of forwards in reality.

 

[Aerrol]

I see where you're coming from, but in my mind, a differentiation must be made between being a skill player, and being able to drive an offensive line.

Is Eberle a skill player? Hell yes. Can he drive a line? Hell no.

Once you really look at the players that this team has, it becomes pretty clear that being talented isn't going to be enough. With the group of forwards we have now, any line that doesn't have Hall or McDavid on it isn't going to produce as much as they look like they should be able to on paper. That's all I'm trying to say.

The skill of our top 7/8 forwards is undeniable, but the lineup really starts to thin out when you realize that only 2 (potentially 3 - Draisaitl) have the ability to be gamebreakers. And this team needs to surround their gamebreakers with complementary players that bring more than just soft-skill.

Out of Eberle/Yakupov/RNH/Pouliot/Kassian group, I figure that Kassian and Eberle fill a need for this team. Kassian plays the type of game that we need more of, and Eberle (for all the holes in his game, which he deserves a ton of **** for) is a great finisher. The others are easy to play against/don't do anything at an elite enough level and could stand to be upgraded.

For all the effort that RNH puts into being a two-way player, he is soft as butter.

Pouliot forechecks hard (at times to the point of stupidity) but is soft along the boards.

Yakupov just can't piss a drop more than once every 5 games.

Basically, I'm saying that this group of forwards on paper >>>>> this group of forwards in actuality. Too many passengers that, if asked to carry the load offensively, would wilt.

I think we agree on most things, so rather than respond to each point, I'll just respond more generally - I think a lot of our deficiencies are exaggerated due to our terrible defence. I think the forward makeup can and should be tweaked a bit, but it's not that bad. See, for instance, a team like Dallas which is killing it this year with a similar makeup to our team. The differences? They have more veteran skill players, Jamie Benn is more of a power forward than anyone we have, and most critically, they have Klingberg and Oduya. I think it's that last one that's the big difference here, not Jamie Benn vs Hall + Draisaitl as 'power' top-6 forwards.

It'll be impossible to tell for sure until we actually make that trade for a top pairing defenceman, but until then I'm convinced that if we actually had a competent defence that could get the puck up consistently and run a damn powerplay, our forwards would look way better than they have. Maybe that's the hope-springs-eternal optimism that somehow still lives in me after a decade of this BS, but I don't think it's a crazy perspective to have.

 

[McOilers97]

I think we agree on most things, so rather than respond to each point, I'll just respond more generally - I think a lot of our deficiencies are exaggerated due to our terrible defence. I think the forward makeup can and should be tweaked a bit, but it's not that bad. See, for instance, a team like Dallas which is killing it this year with a similar makeup to our team. The differences? They have more veteran skill players, Jamie Benn is more of a power forward than anyone we have, and most critically, they have Klingberg and Oduya. I think it's that last one that's the big difference here, not Jamie Benn vs Hall + Draisaitl as 'power' top-6 forwards.

It'll be impossible to tell for sure until we actually make that trade for a top pairing defenceman, but until then I'm convinced that if we actually had a competent defence that could get the puck up consistently and run a damn powerplay, our forwards would look way better than they have. Maybe that's the hope-springs-eternal optimism that somehow still lives in me after a decade of this BS, but I don't think it's a crazy perspective to have.

Yes, I can agree that they'd look a lot better receiving tape-to-tape passes through the neutral zone. Absolutely.

But will they be better enough is the question, which I'm leaning towards no.

But it's a fair point to say that they'd be better.

 

[Jepprey]

People talk about 3 scoring lines when we can't even get 2 scoring lines going. Hahahaha.

This team doesn't have the depth or balance to run 3 scoring lines. Perhaps it never will. It hasn't had that depth since the last playoff run.

If chia can fix the defense and actually get two scoring lines. Maybe. Just maybe we can talk about 3 scoring lines.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

People talk about 3 scoring lines when we can't even get 2 scoring lines going. Hahahaha.

This team doesn't have the depth or balance to run 3 scoring lines. Perhaps it never will. It hasn't had that depth since the last playoff run.

If chia can fix the defense and actually get two scoring lines. Maybe. Just maybe we can talk about 3 scoring lines.

I much rather have 2 solid scoring lines and an actual 3rd line rather then a line of misfits.