freelancer

Edmonton • Canada • 25 Years Old • Male

Eberle: Part of The Problem. Part of the Solution?

If someone were to tell you that after 32 games the Oilers would be 15-12-5 and sit 3rd in the Pacific you would probably have been quite happy with that. Unfortunately the devil is in the details and over the past few weeks the Oilers have left valuable points off the table. There is a very good chance that if the Oilers are out of the playoff race in March, this stretch will be critically analyzed.

For the purpose of this blog, we are going to take a closer look at Eberle over that stretch. Looking at the last 13 games, that started with the 5-0 win over Chicago and ends at the 3-1 loss to Columbus. Here are the numbers for Jordan Eberle

In the last 13 games, Eberle is 2-7-9. Rating that over a full season would be roughly 57 points. In fact, if we take his season stats so far 8-15-23 over a full season he would have just under 59 points. That would be his fourth season above 50 points which is indicative of a top line right winger.

So why all the Eberle hate? Looking closer at how he has gathered these points it's pretty easy to see.

In the above mentioned 13 game stretch:
- One goal was on the powerplay
- His other goal was an empty netter
- 6 of his assists were secondary assists
- His ONE primary assist was also on the powerplay
- His three even strength assists were all secondary assists

I'm not usually one to whine about secondary assists, but watching the videos the only two that stood out to me was in Chicago where he shot the puck on net, and in Anaheim where he drove to the net on the OT goal. The rest mostly consisted of passing the puck 10 feet away to a defenseman.

To sum this up simpler, Eberle's 5 on 5 production this year isn't very good. He is 3-8-11 on the year at even strength. Two of those assists were primary assists. Last year he had 15 even strength goals in 69 games. He isn't even on pace for that over a full season this year. His shooting percentage which usually is about 12% at even strength is down to a measly 5%.

A touch of optimism; his powerplay numbers have been good this year. Actually he is on pace to break his PP point total. His 20% shooting percentage is very close to the 20.45% he had during his 76 point season.

Leon Draisaitl is having a very good year. Connor McDavid is Connor McDavid. There are 50 games left in the season and in order for the Oilers to stand a chance of making the post season they need their top 6 guys to be producing. Jordan Eberle is not producing at the same rate he has in the past. Eberle will never be a defensive juggernaut but I do believe he has a place on this roster... if he can be a goal scorer.

I'll continue this train of thought on another blog in regards to Ryan Nugent Hopkins, until then thanks for reading.

It's really cold outside. I recommend that everyone stay indoors and while you're at it check out Downtown Hockey

https://soundcloud.com/downtownhockey/episode-35

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