CHICAGO — Rather than dancing around the issue and trying to pretend it was a talent-for-talent hockey trade, Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli got right to the truth, breaking down the Jordan Eberle-Ryan Strome trade to its simplest form:
Six million dollars for $2.5 million dollars.
Those are the 3.5 million reasons why Edmonton moved Eberle to the New York Islanders for a 23-year-old right winger/centre with 21 goals over the last two seasons.
There is also a hockey component in there, too, with Chiarelli believing Strome still has significant upside that will be much easier for him to realize playing on a team, and perhaps even a line, with Connor McDavid, but make no mistake — this was about money first.