Report: Blues may be talking to the Oilers about Jordan Eberle and Patrik Berglund

It’s time to warm up the hot stove! The Edmonton Oilers are apparently willing to trade just about any player on their roster in return for a top center. This led Blues fans to connect the dots while urging the team to ship out Patrik Berglund. Now, no one said Berglund is a top center (in fact, he’s far from it), but there is one report suggesting the Oilers may be willing to part with Jordan Eberle in exchange for Berglund.

Here’s the report from the Edmonton Journal:

If the Edmonton Oilers are indeed sniffing around St. Louis Blues centre Patrik Berglund, who is currently playing left wing on that stacked team because the team has Paul Stastny, David Backes and Jori Lehtera firmly planted at centre, the Blues conceivably are asking about Jordan Eberle in a package.

Nobody’s saying it would ever be a one-for-one arrangement because Eberle has more currency around the league as an offensive weapon (76- and 65-point NHL seasons on his resume) than the six-foot-three, 217-pound Berglund and he makes considerably more money than the Swede for longer term, but Eberle could take Berglund’s spot as a winger in St. Louis.

That’s interesting. It’d seemingly take a lot more than Berglund to pry Eberle out of Edmonton, but it’s unclear what that would be. The Blues would have to shell out more assets for a deal to get done, unless Edmonton would agree to pay a portion of Eberle’s contract. Eberle carries the larger contract, but he also carries more talent.

Salaries
Berglund: In the first year of a three-year, $3.7 million. Average cap hit of $3.7 million.
Eberle: In the second year of a six-year, $36 million contract. Average cap hit of $6 million.

On the year, Eberle has four goals and 10 assists through 20 games while Berglund has two goals and two assists over 20 games. Blues fans would be thrilled to see an upgrade over Berglund, but it’s all about the market’s perceived value. Berglund hasn’t shown up offensively, but he receives a bit more criticism than he might deserve. Defensively, Berglund isn’t a liability compared to some of the other players on the roster. Still, we’ve seen what Berglund has to offer and frankly the Blues would be wise to move on, admit their contract extension was a mistake and try a new option.