About a month before he signed his two-year contract extension at the NHL trade deadline in March, I asked Kraken captain Jordan Eberle about his top priorities. Number one: Win a Stanley Cup.
That’s understandable, given he’s never won one in his 16-season NHL career.
He does know how hard it is to get there, or even get close, having gone to the Eastern Conference Finals in consecutive years with the New York Islanders in 2020 and 2021. The Isles lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in the late summer, n0-fans, Covid playoffs the first time, and then in seven games to the repeat champs in 2021.
Out of his five postseason appearances, he’s been a major contributor in the last four, including six goals and 11 points in 14 games for the Kraken in 2023. By the way, if that postseason appearance total sounds low given his lengthy career, keep in mind his Oilers failed to make the playoffs his first six years in Edmonton, and the Kraken have fallen short the last three campaigns.
He does own the biggest, most exciting goal in Seattle’s brief NHL history, the OT winner in Game-4 of the opening round to even the series against the Colorado Avalanche. Yanni Gourde notched the OT winner in Game-1 of the second round against the Dallas Stars, but that was on the road. Eberle’s came at the Climate Pledge Arena and sparked madness.
As for the Stanley Cup, as we’ve pointed out in previous team scouting reports, that’s not happening in Seattle for the 36-year-old winger.
So how could it happen given he has a complete no-trade clause in his contract that pays him $5.5-million per season? Well, while other NHL GM’s can’t tamper with him, other NHL players can, via word of mouth with management. Should the Kraken be out of the mix at the trade deadline, there would likely be strong interest in having a savvy, clutch veteran added to the line-up of a contender.
One would think it would be more likely at the deadline of 2028 rather than 2027, but if the right situation came along, he’d be crazy not to jump at the first chance.
Yes, his real priority is his family — he and they love playing and living in Seattle — but dad being away for three or four months to finish a season, enter the playoffs, and get a chance to lift the chalice? Hell yes.
Or at least one would think.
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