C Jack Eichel (2015, 2nd, BUF) IV

[TalkingProuder]

Remember about 20 months ago when some posters were claiming that Eichel's skating was nothing special?

I showed up at the scrimmage to see Eichel this summer and had a seat right near the ice. His speed cannot be seen on TV. You need to be there to see it. I was sitting in my seat when he skated by so fast it was a blur. This was on a day when it was said he was dead tired.

 

[FamilyGuy716]

Remember about 20 months ago when some posters were claiming that Eichel's skating was nothing special?

Those were people who didn't watch him play at BU. It was clearly evident that he was/is an elite skater

 

[couture23]

Remember about 20 months ago when some posters were claiming that Eichel's skating was nothing special?

Those are the same people who didn't watch a single BU game yet claimed that the gap between Eichel and McDavid was huge.

Hint: It's not.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

Aside from that play, is he anything like Forsberg in style? How physical is he? Haven't been able to watch him other than WJC and WC

 

[tfong]

Those were people who didn't watch him play at BU. It was clearly evident that he was/is an elite skater

Yeah, its just that he doesn't motor his legs so it "looks like" hes not fast. But his stride is incredibly powerful and his transition so smooth.

Really fun to watch.

 

[1972]

He has that Kovalchuk/Semin type release. He can score goals from all over the ice.

 

[TalkingProuder]

Aside from that play, is he anything like Forsberg in style? How physical is he? Haven't been able to watch him other than WJC and WC

He's not a hitter but he is insanely fast and powerful. He basically goes where he wants, when he wants, at the speed he wants.

 

[tfong]

Aside from that play, is he anything like Forsberg in style? How physical is he? Haven't been able to watch him other than WJC and WC

Not the same style, but the similarity is that both are very good at protecting the puck sofar and can skate while doing so without losing speed.

 

[doncherrysgrill]

If we're being honest, Eichel easily could have finished the day with 2 goals, 2 assists and 4 points. And this is not a reach. He had a pair of "slam dunk" assists on should-have-been-easy-tap-in-goals by Foligno and Kane. And he just missed another goal of his own on the backhand while coming in 2-on-1 with Kane.

If you think these Eichel threads are crazy now, could you imagine if he netted 4 points today? HFBoards would have collapsed like CNN when it was hacked.

I was thinking this the entire game. Right before he scored his goal I turned to my buddy and said "Eichel really should already have 2 assists at this point".

I want to say I'm surprised, but I'm not. He showed flashes of this at BU and did it regularly at the Program. He's already a grown man with absurd skill.

 

[OkimLom]

Besides his amazing goal, there was another little play that might have went unnoticed that game but stood out to me. He about to cross the blue line when foligno tripped him causing him to superman in the air but he somehow was able to maintain possession of the puck with one hand on his stick while in the air. Maybe it was just me but that play impressed the heck out of me.

Not just that, but he kept control of the puck with one hand, brought it back out of the reach of the defender at the blueline and got a shot off that went wide. He scores on that, that would be the top play of the day easily.

 

[Waterfowlist]

So, I have a question for non-biased fans of other teams...

With most players, there is that one limiting factor that prevents them from being truly elite. Even when they burst into the league on fire it is always in the back of your mind, "Man that kid is good, if only he could shoot/pass/skate better". I'm just not seeing any weakness in Eichel's game.

So someone without homer goggles on, what is the weakness that could prevent Eichel from becoming one of the best players in the league?

The way I see it:

Skating: ++
Shot: ++
Passing: ++
IQ: ++
Defensive zone: ++

What am I looking past because I want him to succeed so badly?

 

[tfong]

So, I have a question for non-biased fans of other teams...

With most players, there is that one limiting factor that prevents them from being truly elite. Even when they burst into the league on fire it is always in the back of your mind, "Man that kid is good, if only he could shoot/pass/skate better". I'm just not seeing any weakness in Eichel's game.

So someone without homer goggles on, what is the weakness that could prevent Eichel from becoming one of the best players in the league?

The way I see it:

Skating: ++
Shot: ++
Passing: ++
IQ: ++
Defensive zone: ++

What am I looking past because I want him to succeed so badly?

IF I have to nitpick...and its really hard to nitpick on Eichel as it is, I'm going to have to say that he maybe...and I say that very lightly...maybe needs to up the intensity and sense of urgency. He controls the pace and thats great, but generally his pace is a slower one than what you see in the playoffs where everything is high intensity and you really have no space and you get roughed up.

I'd like to see if he can overcome tight checking high tempo playoff games. But other than that it really is hard to harp on him, hes done everything right sofar.

 

[Plub]

Before he entered the NHL I had said he needed to keep his motor going. At times he looked passive and didn't get to the puck as fast as he could. Since he was drafted, I've yet to see that. Granted, I could only see what was streamed prior to regular season, but everything that has been streamed or on TV I have seen and I never thought "he really needs to keep his intensity up".

There's nothing keeping him from being elite. He has no "weakness" to his game. Only areas where he can get better.

EDIT: Didn't see the post above me. But essentially saying the same thing. His intensity was the one thing I'd say he needs to maintain. However, since joining the NHL I think he's done much better.

 

[Matias Maccete]

So, I have a question for non-biased fans of other teams...

With most players, there is that one limiting factor that prevents them from being truly elite. Even when they burst into the league on fire it is always in the back of your mind, "Man that kid is good, if only he could shoot/pass/skate better". I'm just not seeing any weakness in Eichel's game.

So someone without homer goggles on, what is the weakness that could prevent Eichel from becoming one of the best players in the league?

The way I see it:

Skating: ++
Shot: ++
Passing: ++
IQ: ++
Defensive zone: ++

What am I looking past because I want him to succeed so badly?

He's American

 

[RickyR]

He's American

Has trouble tying skates?

Poor singing voice during anthem?

Morbid fear of zambonis?

 

[MNRube]

Eichel is an elite talent for this age.

McDavid is generational talent for his age.

Only time will tell but the comparisons should really start and end with the 2015 draft class, the gap in their play is quite significant. I honestly don't expect Eichel will ever be any better than Tavares/Kane/Stamkos/Seguin/Giroux, and he shouldn't have the "generational" label put on his given that there are 5-7 players in the NHL right now I have a hard time seeing him surpassing.

McDavid on the other hand, has more potential than any player in the NHL right now baring Crosby and that is even debatable.

I hate to see this thread become one big debate over the two players but there are a lot of people who have been expecting something close to McDavid and he just isn't that.

These type of posts are fun to read. No evidence at all, just pulling at straws because there is no way an American could be as good as the McDavid guy who has been hyped to insufferable levels, the ignorance is a joy to behold. Neither of these two is better than the other for sure, but Jack looks much better so far. Much better. That holds much more weight to me than the Canadian hype machine that propelled McDavid to such lofty status. Eichel absolutely murdered the NCAAs last year, like no one has done in decades. That should have been a clue but nope.

 

[nanzenkills]

Aside from that play, is he anything like Forsberg in style? How physical is he? Haven't been able to watch him other than WJC and WC

He's nowhere near as mean or physical as Forsberg was. He also doesn't play with Forsberg's crazy intensity. In terms of overall play style, he reminds me a lot more of a young, peak Alexei Yashin than he does Forsberg. But that play was definitely Forsberg-esque to me.

 

[nanzenkills]

So, I have a question for non-biased fans of other teams...

With most players, there is that one limiting factor that prevents them from being truly elite. Even when they burst into the league on fire it is always in the back of your mind, "Man that kid is good, if only he could shoot/pass/skate better". I'm just not seeing any weakness in Eichel's game.

So someone without homer goggles on, what is the weakness that could prevent Eichel from becoming one of the best players in the league?

The way I see it:

Skating: ++
Shot: ++
Passing: ++
IQ: ++
Defensive zone: ++

What am I looking past because I want him to succeed so badly?

I wouldn't rate his defensive zone play ++, at least based on what I saw of him when he was with BU. He's definitely not a liability there, but I wouldn't say he's much better than average there yet either.

Like other posters have noted, his biggest potential issue is maintaining a consistently high intensity level on the ice. There were times at BU where he appeared disinterested in the play when BU didn't have the puck. To his credit, I have not seen that in the NHL yet.

 

[tsujimoto74]

I wouldn't rate his defensive zone play ++, at least based on what I saw of him when he was with BU. He's definitely not a liability there, but I wouldn't say he's much better than average there yet either.

Like other posters have noted, his biggest potential issue is maintaining a consistently high intensity level on the ice. There were times at BU where he appeared disinterested in the play when BU didn't have the puck. To his credit, I have not seen that in the NHL yet.

His play away from the puck is something Bylsma's been on Eichel about since the WCs, and it shows.

 

[canuck2010]

These type of posts are fun to read. No evidence at all, just pulling at straws because there is no way an American could be as good as the McDavid guy who has been hyped to insufferable levels, the ignorance is a joy to behold. Neither of these two is better than the other for sure, but Jack looks much better so far. Much better. That holds much more weight to me than the Canadian hype machine that propelled McDavid to such lofty status. Eichel absolutely murdered the NCAAs last year, like no one has done in decades. That should have been a clue but nope.

I think it fair to say that Eichel has been the subject of a great deal of hype as well. He's been billed as the next great American hope in hockey, to help sell the game in the US, to lead the American team to a world championship. Nothing wrong with that. He's getting his fair share of hype as well.

Smart heads up play by an 18 year old rookie the other night to score a goal but CBS made it sound like it was incredible. If I'm the Columbus coach I'm on Jenner for being soft on the puck, asking my right D what the hell you were doing on that play and asking my goalie why he played the angle so poorly. Was that not CBS hype? Just sayin'

 

[LongWayDown37]

I know this comparison has been brought up before, but I happened to catch some Fedorov highlights recently. Stylistically, he is absolutely who Eichel looks like on the offensive side - his size, the skating and that shot. We'll see if he can develop his all-around game like Fedorov, but watching Eichel go up the ice with the puck is a spitting image.

 

[tfong]

Before he entered the NHL I had said he needed to keep his motor going. At times he looked passive and didn't get to the puck as fast as he could. Since he was drafted, I've yet to see that. Granted, I could only see what was streamed prior to regular season, but everything that has been streamed or on TV I have seen and I never thought "he really needs to keep his intensity up".

There's nothing keeping him from being elite. He has no "weakness" to his game. Only areas where he can get better.

EDIT: Didn't see the post above me. But essentially saying the same thing. His intensity was the one thing I'd say he needs to maintain. However, since joining the NHL I think he's done much better.

Hes gotten better away from the puck yeah.

But even then we're nitpicking it essentially. Its just not many other things to nitpick haha. Maybe experience? We'll also see how he handles the NHL in playoff crunch time with his style of play.

 

[hambone1818]

I know this comparison has been brought up before, but I happened to catch some Fedorov highlights recently. Stylistically, he is absolutely who Eichel looks like on the offensive side - his size, the skating and that shot. We'll see if he can develop his all-around game like Fedorov, but watching Eichel go up the ice with the puck is a spitting image.

That's my favorite comp for Eichel, I brought it up (probably wasn't the first one) last December or so and after seeing nearly every BU game and highlights of his early Sabres days it's still my favorite comp for him.

As far as the other poster who asked about (relative) weaknesses in his game: I brought it up often in his prospect threads but his effort level away from the puck was the glaring issue at BU/WJC. I think part of it is absolutely his skating style, even at top speed he appears to be gliding; but he definitely floated too much, circled too much for my liking. He could get away with it, he was that much better/faster than his competition, but it was the one glaring issue and something I said he'd have to work on to truly be elite at the NHL level.

It sounds like he's been working on that, that Bylsma's been hammering it home for him. If he cleans that up I'd say his defensive game is the only marginal weakness in his game, if only because it truly takes a few years to become an elite two-way forward, no one pops into the NHL ready for both ends of the ice. He's a modern-day Fedorov, no doubt about it, and Buffalo fans will love watching him the next decade+

 

[member 157595]

Remember about 20 months ago when some posters were claiming that Eichel's skating was nothing special?

Those posters were either trolling or ignorant, since anyone who has seen a shift of Jack Eichel playing competitive hockey knows the kid is a magnificent skater...skating is a HUGE part of his game.

Yeah, its just that he doesn't motor his legs so it "looks like" hes not fast. But his stride is incredibly powerful and his transition so smooth.

Really fun to watch.

He doesn't need to motor his legs at a Pavel Bure-esque rate to blow by most players. As you say, his stride is absolute murder.

Before he entered the NHL I had said he needed to keep his motor going. At times he looked passive and didn't get to the puck as fast as he could. Since he was drafted, I've yet to see that. Granted, I could only see what was streamed prior to regular season, but everything that has been streamed or on TV I have seen and I never thought "he really needs to keep his intensity up".

There's nothing keeping him from being elite. He has no "weakness" to his game. Only areas where he can get better.

EDIT: Didn't see the post above me. But essentially saying the same thing. His intensity was the one thing I'd say he needs to maintain. However, since joining the NHL I think he's done much better.

Both Eichel and Connor McDavid are used to being exponentially better than basically everyone else they've played against. The only teenager even comparable to those two is Austen Matthews IMO (and I think Eichel ends up better than Matthews because of the skating factor).

Now they're playing against the best period. They'll learn to keep that motor going at all times because they won't be able to get away with floating as rookies for sustained periods of time. In my lifetime, only Mario Lemieux was freakish enough as a rookie to be able to get away with applying effort only when he wanted to...

 

[FamilyGuy716]

I know this comparison has been brought up before, but I happened to catch some Fedorov highlights recently. Stylistically, he is absolutely who Eichel looks like on the offensive side - his size, the skating and that shot. We'll see if he can develop his all-around game like Fedorov, but watching Eichel go up the ice with the puck is a spitting image.

100% agree. I've been saying this for a while. Somebody brought it up a while ago and I looked at old Fedorov videos and you can definitely see the resemblance.