Jordan Leslie Christopher Eberle (; born May 15, 1990) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a right winger and captain of the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the first round (22nd overall) in the 2008 NHL entry draft by the Edmonton Oilers and made his NHL debut with the Oilers in 2010.
During his four-year junior career with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League (WHL), he won the David Branch Player of the Year Award in 2010, the Doc Seaman Trophy as the scholastic player of the year in 2008 and was a two-time First Team East All-Star in 2008 and 2010. In his second season in the NHL, Eberle was named to the All-Star Game and led the Oilers in goals and points.
Internationally, Eberle has competed for Canada in two World Junior Championships, winning gold and silver in 2009 and 2010, respectively. He was named Tournament MVP and Best Forward at the 2010 World Junior Championships and is tied with Brayden Schenn as Canada's third all-time leading scorer at the tournament with 26 points. In 2012, The Sports Network named him the best Canadian World Junior player ever.
Early life Eberle was born on May 15, 1990, in Regina, Saskatchewan, to Darren and Lisa Eberle. His dad coached him on his minor hockey teams growing up. He has two older sisters, Ashley and Whitney, a younger brother, Dustin and an older brother Christopher. He attended high school at the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, before moving to Calgary, Alberta, at age 15 with his parents and three siblings. He returned to Regina to play junior hockey for the Regina Pats and attended Archbishop M.C. O'Neill High School during the hockey season. He went on to graduate from Bishop O'Byrne Senior High School in Calgary in June 2008.
Playing career Early career Eberle played novice hockey with Hockey Regina's tier-1 Kings and amassed 216 goals over sixty games in 1999–2000. He then went on to play Bantam AAA hockey for the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame at the age of 14. During the 2004–05 season, Eberle scored 40 goals and 27 assists through 27 games. He was then selected by his hometown major junior team, the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League (WHL), in the seventh round (126th overall) of the 2005 WHL bantam draft. Following the draft, Eberle joined the midget ranks with the Calgary Buffaloes of the Alberta Midget Hockey League (AMHL). He scored 14 goals and 34 points through the 2005–06 season and described his success as "a microcosm of the team’s." He won a bronze medal with the Buffaloes at the 2006 Mac's Midget Hockey Tournament, scoring two goals in the bronze-medal game against the Prince Albert Mintos. He helped his team qualify for the 2006 Telus Cup national midget championship, where the Buffaloes lost a 5–4 triple-overtime game in the final against the Mintos. Eberle scored a goal and an assist in the losing effort and was awarded the Most Sportsmanlike Award for the tournament.
Major junior Eberle debuted with the Pats in the 2006–07 season, scoring 55 points and a team-high 28 goals as a rookie. He added two goals and seven points in six games against the Swift Current Broncos in the opening round of the 2007 WHL playoffs but was sidelined for the entirety of the second round against the Medicine Hat Tigers due to a virus. Eberle started his second major junior season by earning WHL Player of the Month honours for October 2007, totalling 16 goals and 26 points over 16 games for the Pats. He missed two games early in the season with tonsillitis, before scoring a hat-trick in his return on October 6, 2007, against the Moose Jaw Warriors. Eberle scored a goal while representing Team WHL against Russia in the 2007 ADT Canada-Russia Challenge to help his team secure a 4-2 series win. Midway through the season, he was chosen to compete in the 2008 CHL Top Prospects Game in Edmonton.
Eberle finished the 2007–08 season with a team-high 42 goals and 75 points. His 42 goals accounted for one-fifth of his team's scoring and marked the first time a Pats player hit the forty-goal mark since Matt Hubbauer scored 48 in 2001–02. He also tied Drayson Bowman of the Spokane Chiefs for fourth in league scoring. He was selected to the WHL East First All-Star Team and received the Doc Seaman Trophy as WHL Scholastic Player of the Year.
Eberle had started the season ranked seventh among WHL skaters in the NHL Central Scouting Bureau's preliminary rankings for the 2008 NHL entry draft. At the midpoint of the season, he was ranked 24th among North American skaters, but he was dropped to 33rd in the NHL's final rankings. The Sports Network described Eberle as the "smartest offensive players in the draft." During the season, Eberle competed in his second ADT Canada–Russia Challenge for Team WHL in 2008. He was selected in the first round, 22nd overall, by the Edmonton Oilers. Having grown up in Regina, Eberle was a childhood fan of the Oilers, even after his family moved to Calgary. After completing the 2008–09 WHL season with a team-leading 74 points in 61 games, Eberle was signed to a three-year, entry-level contract with the Oilers on March 23, 2009.
Eberle was one of the final cuts of the Oilers' 2009 training camp, and he was returned to the Pats on September 27, 2009. After being sent down, Eberle reeled off 25 points in 12 games to be named WHL Player of the Month for September and October. He was named to Team WHL for the 2009 Subway Super Series (formerly known as the ADT Canada–Russia Challenge) and was selected as an alternate captain to Pats teammate Colten Teubert for Game 5. Eberle finished the 2009–10 WHL season second in league scoring with 106 points in 57 games (one point behind Brandon Kozun of the Calgary Hitmen in eight fewer games) and was a unanimous selection to his second WHL East First All-Star Team in three years. He was the first member of the Pats to score 50 goals and record 100 points since Ronald Petrovicky during the 1997–98 season. Eberle finished his career with the Pats seventh all-time in franchise goal scoring with 155 and 12th in points with 310. Eberle was named the Regina Pats Player of the Year, Most Sportsmanlike Player and the Most Popular player after the 2009–10 season. Eberle was selected as the winner of the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as WHL Player of the Year, defeating Western Conference nominee Craig Cunningham of the Vancouver Giants. He was later named CHL Player of the Year, beating out the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) nominees Tyler Seguin and Mike Hoffman, respectively. It marked the third time that a Pats player won the award, after Ed Staniowski in 1975 and Doug Wickenheiser in 1980.
In recognition of his outstanding junior hockey career, the Pats retired Eberle's number 7 on December 5, 2012.
Professional Edmonton Oilers
Soon after signing a contract with the Oilers, Eberle was assigned to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Springfield Falcons, for the remainder of the 2008–09 season. He made his professional debut for the Falcons on March 27, 2009, against the Worcester Sharks. By his third AHL game, he had tallied two assists through two games. He then scored his first professional goal in his third game with the Falcons, a 4–3 loss to the Portland Pirates, on March 29. Eberle continued to produce and finished the regular season with nine points through nine games. Following his time in the AHL, Eberle again attended the Oilers training camp and preseason games before being reassigned to the WHL for the 2009–10 season. Coach Pat Quinn stated that Eberle was reassigned to allow him to grow and strengthen his skills and attitude. Following another outstanding WHL season, Eberle returned to the Falcons' for the last few games of the regular season. He finished the Falcons' 2009–10 season with 14 points through 11 games.
During the 2010 off-season, the Oilers signed Eberle's former Canadian junior national team teammate Taylor Hall to an NHL contract. They subsequently attended the Oilers' Development Camp together in the summer of 2010. They were also one of 16 forwards named to the Oilers Young Stars roster for their tournament against the Vancouver Canucks, Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, and San Jose Sharks Eberle then attended his third Rookie Camp with the Oilers, where the team announced that Eberle would wear the number 14 while playing for the Oilers. After impressing during rookie camp, Eberle was named to the Oilers opening night roster for the 2010–11 season. He subsequently made his NHL debut with the Oilers on October 7, 2010, against the Calgary Flames. During the game, he recorded his first NHL goal in the third period and later added an assist on the power play to lead the team to a 4–0 win. The goal was later voted by fans as the NHL's Goal of the Year on the league's Facebook page, as well as Play of the Year on The Sports Network's (TSN) website. Early into his rookie season, Eberle was playing on a line with Shawn Horcoff and Taylor Hall while on pace for 50 points. By January 1, he had accumulated nine goals and 14 assists through 36 games before suffering a high ankle sprain during a game against the Flames. While sidelined with the injury, he underwent an unrelated emergency appendectomy. He ended up missing a month before being able to return to the Oilers' lineup. Upon returning from the surgery, Eberle recorded two-assists in their 5–3 loss to the St. Louis Blues. Later, in April, Eberle received a hit to the head from opposing forward Raffi Torres. While Eberle was not injured on the play, Torres received a four-game suspension for the hit. Though the Oilers finished with the worst record in the NHL for the second straight year, Eberle finished the season with 18 goals and 25 assists for 43 points through 69 games.