Sometimes you’re just sitting there, watching Hockey Night in Canada — minding your own business — and someone says something that makes you think, “Well what were you expecting?” It happened to me when Nick Kypreos said that the Oilers were already disappointed with the Eberle/Strome trade and were thinking about moving Ryan Strome already.

As you can imagine, this is both tragic and hilarious, expected and yet infuriating nonetheless. As Nick Kypreos noted in that broadcast, we are uncertain if Ryan Strome brings back any significant value in terms of a return on this deal. It’s interesting that this comes 10 games into this season because that question has existed for much longer than a month. We know what value Peter Chiarelli will give for Strome. We have no idea what ANY OTHER general manager would pay.

Now, there are things about Ryan Strome that I am disappointed about that I didn’t know before. For example, he’s slower than I assumed. But the Oilers don’t have the same excuse that I have for not knowing that about him. They have scouts and access to hours of video. I have Google and Twitter. See the difference? I’m SUPPOSED to know less than an NHL team.

What makes things a little more frustrating on that front is that as soon as Kypreos finished telling everyone that the Oilers were looking for scoring help on the wings, Friedman stressed that the team was looking for speed. So they are looking for the exact OPPOSITE of Strome, for whom they traded Eberle.

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Outside of the speed, he’s pretty much exactly what I figured the Oilers were getting. Through his first nine games, Strome has 3 points. That’s a 27 point pace over 82 games. That’s pretty much right where he has been for the last two seasons.

Ryan Strome has been everything, offensively, that any reasonable person could have expected. Getting mad at Strome for only having three points in nine games is like getting mad at the sun for rising in the East. It’s getting a pet rock and being mad that it doesn’t do anything. Yeah, he doesn’t do anything. You knew that when you spent your money!

Is it upsetting that Jordan Eberle has nine points in 11 games and the Oilers have oodles of cap space and a need for scoring at right wing AND are reportedly unhappy with the player they traded Eberle for?

NO. WHY WOULD THAT BE UPSETTING? IS THAT NOT NORMAL?

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Friedman wondered out loud if the Oilers would be interested in Chris Kreider. What about a 26-year-old, 6’3”, 225-pound winger who can skate like the wind and score between 45-55 points a year sounds appealing?

Before we get our hopes up, I sincerely doubt that Ryan Strome has enough value to be more than a throw-in for Chris Kreider unless he has severely worn out his welcome in New York. I don’t know what the Oilers do if they want to seriously go after Kreider, but if Chiarelli tries for another one of his patented One-For-One deals then I’m expecting a Nuge sized hole in the lineup.

But let’s come back to the basic concept of the Oilers being unhappy with the trade of Eberle for Strome. What the hell were they thinking? What could Peter Chiarelli possibly have expected when he made that deal? He took a perennial 20-30 goal guy and traded him for a 30 point forward. He knew it when he pulled the trigger. What could he possibly have learned in October that wasn’t available for him to know in June?

This whole thing is unreal. Unreal.

Source: Nick Kypreos, Hockey Night in Canada, 10/28/2017



