12 Days Of The Oilers Rig Christmas – More Shots For Eberle

By more shots, I’m talking hockey, not off ice activities! First off, Happy Holidays everyone, I hope you are enjoying the early stages of the holiday season! One group not enjoying the season right now however, is the Edmonton Oilers. The Oil have dropped two in a row, including an embarrassing loss Friday night in Vancouver. The team now heads to Cali for a date with the Ducks and a date with the Kings.

If the Oilers are going to win some of these games, they’ll need their best players to once again step up, and that includes Jordan Eberle….big time. What Ebs needs for Christmas is more shots on net. Eberle has eleven goals and 28 points in 34 games played, but there is room for improvement.

Offensively:

This is where the title comes into play. Eberle has a great set of hands. Just how good this player is has been debated, and will be debated, among Oilers fans. Was his 2011-12 season a fluke, is this a possible franchise forward? We still don’t know exactly what Eberle is, but we do know he is a good player and we do know he can score.

Eberle, like every other Oiler skilled forward it seems, is too busy trying to be pretty and make the perfect play. Eberle needs to just shoot more. You have the hands Jordan, just use them. Eberle takes more shots, and he will score more goals. When on the power-play, stop trying to set everything up, just fire away.

As I sit here playing Santa for Jordan Eberle during day two of the Oilers Rig Christmas, I can’t help but offer Jordan Eberle more shots on goal and less pretty passing plays. It’ll help his personal numbers, and it’ll help the Oilers score more. Pucks to the net is never a bad thing!

Defensively:

Defensively Eberle needs some help. He has improved in this last stretch of games, but still has some brutal turnovers. Look no further than Tuesday night on the power-play when Eberle passed it right to Eric Staal, setting up a Canes goal short-handed goal.

Eberle needs better decision making, and that is the other gift I will give him. He’s turned the puck-over quite a bit this season, and has made some terrible defensive decisions, blowing his coverage to try and cheat for offense. It has cost the team, and as a result he is a -4 and has looked silly defensively more often than not.

With better decision making, Eberle will be a much better defensive player. It would help cut his turnovers and missed assignments down, and would make him a better hockey player. Stop trying to cheat for offense and commit a little to defense. He’s certainly good enough, at this point it’s all mental and all part of the decision making process.

Soooo:

Look, Jordan Eberle is a good to very good hockey player. He’s young, very talented and has a great set of hands. If Eberle could put more pucks to the net and just shoot rather than try to set up the pretty play, it would make a world of difference offensively. Defensively, a player who has struggled can vastly improve with smart decision making. Eberle is a smart hockey player, and with some patience he should be able to change some of those mistakes.

They are two major things, but both these gifts I have offered Jordan Eberle this Holiday season can vastly improve an already good player, and as a result make the Oilers a better team. Maybe what I’m offering isn’t in the cards for Jordan, but it should be easy to see.

Happy Holidays everyone!