Is the Golden Knights' problem Jack Eichel?

[thaman8765678]

The day before Eichel's debut the Knights had a 90% chance to make the playoffs. They now have less than a 50% chance.

Now, I know there are other factors in play. But they still have a good team that at minimum should be a wildcard team.

Is Eichel just a magnet for bad luck? It seems losing follows him wherever he goes...

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[NoNecksCurse]

Don’t be that guy

 

[fsanford]

He actually was the only guy that played well tonight. Horrible cap managment is taking the Knights down.
Lets just say guys are probably sitting on LTIR longer than anticipated due to cap issues. Its a mess

 

[Ginger Papa]

As a Canucks fan watching the Game tonight, Jack’s body language appears to show he’s very frustrated & is not responding well when he misses an opportunity. A couple of times it looked like he might have scored on a rebound or been able to get the puck back to dish it off if he stayed on task.

That all being said, most people here are aware that Vegas‘ roster looks lIke a cannon was shot through it.

I fully expect Jack to bounce back in a big way next Season when the Roster is back to normal (Cap issues resolved, of course).

 

[Dulind]

Vegas has a lot of problems on the bench, cap, injuries, and coaching.

One player isn't the source of what's going on there.

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

ARE the Golden Knights' problem Jack Eichel.

 

[Gurglesons]

I think it might be the fact they have like 20 mil not playing. But probably is Jack Eichel.

 

[Kairi Zaide]

Just my 2 cents, but losing a top line forward in Pacioretty certainly didn't help either. Stone <-> Eichel is probably a lateral move at best (though I prefer Stone's overall impact). I won't go as far as saying that they're missing 2 legit top line forwards though (Stone and Pacioretty) due to the fact they would simply not be cap compliant if both were to play.

 

[thaman8765678]

Isn't part of the reason they don't have everyone playing Jack Eichel's contract lol.

You would expect 10 million dollars to be an impact player.

 

[Gentle Man]

Gallant > DeBoer in my opinion.

I'd say the new toy syndrome caught up with them. Which includes Deboer being a new toy

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

It was stupid to trade Holden for Dadonov in the first place. That's the big problem here. That, and the face they could've traded Holden to any team for a lot less.

 

[summer tooth]

It's only about their 3rd or 4th year as a team and they are still developing. Some of their top players such as Dadanov, William Karlsson, and Shea Theodore have been underperforming.

 

[fsanford]

Isn't part of the reason they don't have everyone playing Jack Eichel's contract lol.

You would expect 10 million dollars to be an impact player.

He has 19 points in 25 games coming off back surgury.
Eichel is not the problem.

The guy managing the salary cap, must have got his accounting degree from a correspondence school.
It will be interesting to see what the Knights do in the offseason to fix things

 

[Love]

First of all they’re missing a lot of good players. But they’ve also shaken up the core a ton over the last 5 years despite being consistently competitive. It makes you wonder if there’s chemistry issues - and if there is, I have a feeling Eichel wouldn’t help.

 

[steierwrass]

I think it might be the fact they have like 20 mil not playing. But probably is Jack Eichel.

This is also little misleading. Their playing roster has 70+M cap usage now. They could never use that whole 20M, so that shouldn't be the value you use. Yes, they have injuries and that hurts. But it's not only team, that play or have played without some players. It's not only that.

 

[Killer Orcas]

I think missing Stone has more to do about Vegas's record since. Goes to show how valuable Stone really is to them.

 

[thaman8765678]

I think missing Stone has more to do about Vegas's record since. Goes to show how valuable Stone really is to them.

They almost won a cup without Stone...

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

Goal differential is a decent indicator of how good a team is and based on that, Vegas is a little unlucky to be out of the playoff picture as of today. Injuries certainly haven’t helped. I think if they’ll be one of the better teams in the West again next year (as much as it pains me to say that).

 

[Killer Orcas]

They almost won a cup without Stone...

Yes but they are much better with him than without. He's the leader and best player on them.

 

[ACLEVERNAME]

Don't know why but I never trusted that face/hair combo. Like a bad EA randomizer. Called bullshit from the get go.

 

[GrungeHockey]

Well the interesting thing is Buffalo is looking much better without him and is finally showing signs of being a hockey team again, while the human chia pet is, as said above, looking frustrated. Can a good old Eichel stick smashing be coming soon to an arena near you? Guy is a diva and I suspect a crap team mate.

In 24 games for Vegas Eichel has 10 goals, 8 assists for 18 points.
In 39 games for the Sabres Alex Tuch has 9 goals and 22 assists for 31 points.

Not suggesting Eichel isn't more talented than Tuch, he is, but Tuch was only 1/4 of that deal and costs half as much and is seen as a team leader. Starting to look like Buffalo won that deal.

 

[Grigowski]

Imagine being nearly 20 11 (corrected) mill over the cap and still miss the playoffs.....

Or in other words: Vegas "kucheroved" itself out of the playoffs..... It would be "epic".

 

[BelovedIsles]

Generally this looks like a franchise that got too full of themselves after that first-year run to the Finals, decided to go for quick, lucrative fixes and it backfired. If they stayed the course, slowly added bigger pieces, they’d be in a better spot now for the short and long term. I jumped on the VGK bandwagon; they had an endearing narrative. Now, not so much.

 

[TheNumber4]

Eichel is looking like the superstar they thought they stole from Buffalo. So it’s probably not Eichel. Although a selfish POS like Eichel could ruin team chemistry, it’s probably all the injuries that’s holding them back.

 

[Larry Hanson]

I blame those ridiculous helmets.