There is a lot of money to be earned or lost for Jordan Eberle as the second postseason of his career is underway, his Islanders preparing for Game 2 of their first-round series against the Penguins on Friday night at the Coliseum after a dramatic 4-3 overtime win in Game 1.
Eberle will turn 29 years old on May 15, and he is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Statistically, this has been a down year for the previous 30-goal scorer, although the 19 goals and 37 points in 78 regular-season games can be seen through the lens of the club becoming far more defensive — and having far more success — under first-year head coach Barry Trotz.
But with a terrific Game 1, scoring a goal and making a great play to collect an assist on Brock Nelson’s power-play goal, Eberle could be raising his price. Eberle is aware of that, but he’s trying not to let it dominate his thoughts.
“It’s not like I’m going on the ice thinking about my contract. I don’t think about it at all, to be honest,” he said Friday morning. “You kind of just let things happen as they do. I think the biggest thing is when you’re a kid, you dream of playing in the playoffs, and that chance is here. The farther you go as a team, the better it is for the individual.”
Eberle’s first season with the Islanders was 2017-18, coming over on a steal of a trade that sent Ryan Strome to Edmonton. He had two years left on his bloated contract that carried a $6 million annual salary-cap hit, but he put up 25 goals and 59 points to justify it.
Under coach Doug Weight, he played almost all of the year next to Mat Barzal, who was en route to an 85-point campaign and winning the Calder Trophy. But when Trotz came in and tried the two of them together, they floundered early.
“They were getting chances and weren’t scoring, and then they started pressing,” Trotz said. “There was no structure, there was no detail, and it sort of fell apart.”
Yet by late in the regular season, Trotz needed a spark. So in a March 11 game against the Blue Jackets, he put Eberle back with Barzal. For the final 14 games, Eberle scored six goals — including five in the final seven. It was a big step in the Islanders establishing a top line to play in the most offensive situations.
“I think sometimes it just happens that way, you’re not feeling it and you get back together and you have the joy of playing together,” Trotz said. “You start having some success. Everything stems from success.”
see also
Inside Lou Lamoriellos master plan making Islanders noise
It’s a hard-worn phrase in the Canon of Lou Lamoriello,…
In his first go-around in the playoffs with the Oilers in 2017, Eberle didn’t score a goal in 13 games as Edmonton bowed out in the second round. That disappointment is one of the reasons that then-general manager Peter Chiarelli felt he was expendable — eventually losing the trade even more when he sent Strome to the Rangers for Ryan Spooner, who he then placed on waivers and sent to the minors.
But another reason was the contract, which is now an issue again. Islanders team president Lou Lamoriello told The Post on Thursday he wants to keep all his free agents and he’s going to try. But also coming up on deals are Nelson, captain Anders Lee, and goalie Robin Lehner. It’s clear that Lamoriello wants to keep all of them, but only under the right terms.
And the terms for Eberle are only going to rise if he follows a good Game 1 with more big performances in the spotlight — a stage not just for Lamoriello, but for the whole league.
“You can put aside your personal stats and all that to win hockey games and get a chance in the postseason,” Eberle said. “Now that it’s here, you want to take advantage of it.”
In more ways than one.