Frozen Forensics: Jordan Eberle

Derek Gibson

2015-07-24

USATSI 8500267 154511096 lowres

Jordan Eberle has top-3 right wing potential in fantasy hockey next season.

Is it October yet?!

Ok, got that out of the way. When October does roll around, Edmonton Oiler fans will finally get to see Connor McDavid play in a regular season game (heck, there were more fans at their development camp game than a Florida Panthers' regular season game!), and the hype machine will be well, well underway. There's McDavid, Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and the other former #1 overall pick, Nail Yakupov, yet the one player that is poised to have a breakout season in my opinion is right winger Jordan Eberle.

In a way, despite Edmonton's rancid outputs over the years, Eberle remained rather consistent through it all, yet seems to be underrated from a fantasy perspective. A new year, a potential new number-1 center, and a potential for huge fantasy results.

In all honesty, what's not to like about Jordan Eberle's game? It's become commonplace for Eberle to be overlooked, framed as the "third wheel" in the Six Million Dollar Men (he, RNH, and Hall all make roughly north of six mil/year). Yet in researching Eberle, he's really about as consistent as they come on the right side, and he's a player new head coach Todd McLellan can certainly plug into any situation, in any line combination, and expect 25 goals and right around 65 points. But there's more there, it's just a matter of line combo magic, and Eberle could become a top-3 fantasy right winger.

For the 2014-15 season, Eberle's line combinations (using the Dobber Sports Frozen Pool Line Combination Tool) looked like this:

23.99%	EV	14 EBERLE,JORDAN – 4 HALL,TAYLOR – 93 NUGENT-HOPKINS,RYAN
22.85%	EV	14 EBERLE,JORDAN – 93 NUGENT-HOPKINS,RYAN – 67 POULIOT,BENOIT
7.59%	EV	14 EBERLE,JORDAN – 93 NUGENT-HOPKINS,RYAN – 16 PURCELL,EDWARD
4.49%	EV	14 EBERLE,JORDAN – 4 HALL,TAYLOR – 67 POULIOT,BENOIT
3.9%	EV	29 DRAISAITL,LEON – 14 EBERLE,JORDAN – 10 YAKUPOV,NAIL
2.02%	PP	14 EBERLE,JORDAN – 51 LANDER,ANTON – 93 NUGENT-HOPKINS,RYAN – 16 PURCELL,EDWARD

It's pretty cut and dry: When all three were healthy, which isn't always a guarantee with bull-rush left winger Taylor Hall likely to have one Injured Reserve trip every year, Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle, and Hall were on the ice together during five-on-five play. Remember, we're talking fantasy here, and none of these three players will be Selke Trophy finalists anytime soon, but nevertheless, the production was there:

EV	EBERLE,JORDAN – NUGENT-HOPKINS,RYAN – POULIOT,BENOIT	17	26.98%
EV	EBERLE,JORDAN – HALL,TAYLOR – NUGENT-HOPKINS,RYAN	11	17.46%
PP	EBERLE,JORDAN – LANDER,ANTON – NUGENT-HOPKINS,RYAN – PURCELL,EDWARD 📢 advertisement:	8	12.7%
EV	EBERLE,JORDAN – NUGENT-HOPKINS,RYAN – PURCELL,EDWARD	3	4.76%

The wild card for the upcoming season? I'm sure I'm not alone in envisioning a #1 line of McDavid at the pivot, with Hall on the left side (remember his epic-fail audition at center..?), and Eberle on the right. This line could have a significant impact from the start, but if McLellan gives them an audition and it goes south, Eberle fits in just fine with RNH and Benoit Pouliot. If he sticks with Hall and McDavid, I like Eberle's chances at potentially cracking the 70-point mark for the 2^nd time in his young career.

UPCOMING GAMES

Dec 23 - 13:12	N.J	vs	NYR
Dec 23 - 14:12	TOR	vs	WPG
Dec 23 - 19:12	DET	vs	STL
Dec 23 - 19:12	CBJ	vs	MTL
Dec 23 - 19:12	BOS	vs	WSH
Dec 23 - 19:12	FLA	vs	T.B
Dec 23 - 19:12	PIT	vs	PHI
Dec 23 - 19:12	NYI	vs	BUF
Dec 23 - 20:12	NSH	vs	CAR
Dec 23 - 20:12	MIN	vs	CHI
Dec 23 - 21:12	UTA	vs	DAL
Dec 23 - 21:12	VAN	vs	S.J
Dec 23 - 22:12	VGK	vs	ANA