Is the Golden Knights' problem Jack Eichel?

[beowulf]

Don't know if he is a biggest issue with the team but for a guy that was acquired to produce he sure as hell has not at a rate expected.

 

[North Cole]

its his curse, he brings it with him where ever he goes it seems.

Golden Knights are 2 points ahead of the Oilers, WC #1 team, Oilers 1 game in hand
Oilers are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games, Golden Knights have just 2 wins
in their last 10 games.

Golden Knights versus The Avs; Avs are WC #2 team and have 3 games in hand,
7-3-0 in their last 10, 5 points behind Golden Knights.

Golden Knights are also 5 points ahead of the Flames, WC contender #1,
Flames 1 game in hand, versus Predators, Predators WC contender #2
have 4 games in hand, 8 point difference, Predators have won 3 in a row.

So, Vegas not that far away falling from 2nd place in their division, to 5th
and out of the play-offs picture..

Oh, right forgot the Kings, anyways..

I think the Wild are actually WC contender #1. I expect COL to pass them once healthy and leading into the playoffs. Right now the Wild are right there with a bunch of games in hand, I don't see a Pacific team taking them out, so I expect the central will take the WC1 spot and whichever Pacific team doesn't get top 3 in the division will be WC2.

Flames are in a rough spot. I think the Oilers have enough games in hand to get by the Kings for at least third and we'll see if that GD catches up to them at some point. The Knights still have a bit of cushion, but they do need to turn it around sooner than later.

 

[mjlee]

I think in a way Eichel never stood a chance. The draft was touted as McDavid and then following closely, Eichel. He was never as good as his draft hype claimed. He's an elite player but is unable to be THE guy.

Then, in Buffalo he was anointed and, if rumour is correct, with power over coaches and even the front office so never had to mature. Then, given that enormous contract without really deserving it. All with the expectation/demand that he would lead Buffalo to the SC.

Compare that to Dahlin who also came to Buffalo with all the expectations of pre-draft hype. Had an amazing rookie year, followed by two years of Krueger and was the target of criticism (see, main board threads) by the media, experts and fans. Even in Buffalo. Chose a bridge deal, which was wise considering his less than stellar Krueger years. Didn't complain, just worked hard to improve as a player and mature as a person. Hasn't been served anything on a silver platter.

 

[Soundwave]

In fairness to him, I suspect he's playing injured.

Missing a month and then having your ppg/gpg all of the sudden falling off the face of the planet ... to me it points to a guy playing hurt.

13 goals in his first 27 games, then gets hurt, misses about a month and now has 2 goals in his last 11 games since returning, that's going from a near 40 goal pace pre-injury to a 15 goal pace post-injury. I think whatever caused him to miss a month there is still bothering him, he's just trying to play through it.

 

[MOGlLNY]

In fairness to him, I suspect he's playing injured.

Missing a month and then having your ppg/gpg all of the sudden falling off the face of the planet ... to me it points to a guy playing hurt.

13 goals in his first 27 games, then gets hurt, misses about a month and now has 2 goals in his last 11 games since returning, that's going from a near 40 goal pace pre-injury to a 15 goal pace post-injury. I think whatever caused him to miss a month there is still bothering him, he's just trying to play through it.

Any and every time Eichel goes through a dry spell something like this always comes out.

 

[Dirty Dog]

In fairness to him, I suspect he's playing injured.

Missing a month and then having your ppg/gpg all of the sudden falling off the face of the planet ... to me it points to a guy playing hurt.

13 goals in his first 27 games, then gets hurt, misses about a month and now has 2 goals in his last 11 games since returning, that's going from a near 40 goal pace pre-injury to a 15 goal pace post-injury. I think whatever caused him to miss a month there is still bothering him, he's just trying to play through it.

fair, but at what point is being injured not a defense when the player is always injured.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

fair, but at what point is being injured not a defense when the player is always injured.

At this point. Last couple years is what it is considering the magnitude of his injury but this year there's no excuses.

Top players are able to make an impact on good teams even when they're banged up.

 

[HaNotsri]

Couldn't have added any sort of substance to this thread? Just a straight up link to your article?

No one reads the op anyway. All you need is a hot take title

 

[Rob Brown]

No one reads the op anyway. All you need is a hot take title

My post was in response to a guy who made a new thread with the title 'Jack Eichel' and just a link to his article on a different site. Mods just merged that with this thread.

 

[Truenorthducky]

Uncle Jack is cursed, not because he is jack but because he was the player that went after McJesus.

 

[Soundwave]

Any and every time Eichel goes through a dry spell something like this always comes out.

Yeah but this directly lines up to him returning from a groin injury. I dunno, but I don't think you can just "will power" your way through a bad groin.

Either that or somehow in the span of 4 weeks off with an injury, the guy just forgot how to play hockey, which seems more likely.

 

[Chainshot]

Any and every time Eichel goes through a dry spell something like this always comes out.

He did it with the thumb last year too - unlucky or that at his contract he thinks he has to brute force his way through debilitating injury, either way it hurts the team to not be well enough to contribute. If he'd shut it down to rest/rehab it, or even to get surgery, we know Vegas would back fill any LTIR money to get something on the team that could be contributing more than the daisy curls Jack is giving them at the moment.

 

[The Red Helmet]

When the going gets tough…Jack’s not the answer.

He was always the best growing up. Pampered and never has to fight through adversity or struggle in his formative years.

 

[The Red Helmet]

I think in a way Eichel never stood a chance. The draft was touted as McDavid and then following closely, Eichel. He was never as good as his draft hype claimed. He's an elite player but is unable to be THE guy.

Then, in Buffalo he was anointed and, if rumour is correct, with power over coaches and even the front office so never had to mature. Then, given that enormous contract without really deserving it. All with the expectation/demand that he would lead Buffalo to the SC.

Compare that to Dahlin who also came to Buffalo with all the expectations of pre-draft hype. Had an amazing rookie year, followed by two years of Krueger and was the target of criticism (see, main board threads) by the media, experts and fans. Even in Buffalo. Chose a bridge deal, which was wise considering his less than stellar Krueger years. Didn't complain, just worked hard to improve as a player and mature as a person. Hasn't been served anything on a silver platter.

He is not an elite player. He has elite skills in almost every area but for him 4 quarters does not equal a dollar. With the skills he has he should be elite but something is missing that keeps him on the cusp, below the elite tier, Call it attitude or whatever, he doesn't have it. The subconscious innate desire to do anything to win is not there. Maybe the biggest problem is Eichel thinks he does have it and looks to blame others when he doesn't play up to the level he thinks he's on.

 

[DickSmehlik]

Last 11 games:

11 GP, 1G, 1A - 2P, -12.

I went from actively making fun to now feeling kinda sorry for him.

















Just kidding, he deserves all of the hate thrown his way.

 

[jcs0218]

I have called Jack Eichel overrated for the past few years on HF Boards, and the reaction I got from many people was basically to imply that I was an idiot.

I was told repeatedly that Jack Eichel would be a superstar performer if it wasn't for the fact that he was stuck playing for the Buffalo Sabres.

This was all told to me, despite the fact that I repeatedly referenced the fact that Eichel's best season of 82 points in 2019 saw him tied with Sean Monahan that season (who also had 82 points). And nobody would ever confuse Sean Monahan for a superstar.

About playing for the Buffalo Sabres, I stated numerous times that I believed Jack Eichel was part of the problem in Buffalo, rather than part of any solution. I believed that his overall demeanour and his poor attitude as captain resulted in him holding the Sabres back equally as much as they were supposedly holding him back.

Now, moving forward, Eichel has been on a division-leading team this season, away from the Buffalo Sabres, and his statistics are:

GP = 39
G = 15
A = 19
PTS = 34

Over an 82 game season, this pace leads to 32 G, 40 A, and 72 points.

These are decent numbers. But nowhere near superstar numbers in a league where even above-average players are hovering around 1.00 points-per-game.

So are people ready to admit that Jack Eichel is overrated?

 

[HBK27]

Many people have been saying this for years.

 

[jcs0218]

Many people have been saying this for years.

That he was overrated?

If so, I don't think that this is true.

Because I have always gotten HUGE push-back every time I have started calling him overrated in any thread.

 

[Gurglesons]

He’s a low grade 1 C who would probably be a top ten C if he didn’t suffer major injuries.

Dude’s got 36 in 40 and 20 goals so he’s pretty good I dunno.

 

[Bowski]

Celebrate Me!

 

[Melrose Munch]

That he was overrated?

If so, I don't think that this is true.

Because I have always gotten HUGE push-back every time I have started calling him overrated in any thread.

Dude we have an Eichel thread lol

 

[JoeSakic13]

That he was overrated?

If so, I don't think that this is true.

Because I have always gotten HUGE push-back every time I have started calling him overrated in any thread.

The most out to lunch posters are often the loudest.

 

[HBK27]

That he was overrated?

If so, I don't think that this is true.

Because I have always gotten HUGE push-back every time I have started calling him overrated in any thread.

Yeah, you’re not breaking new ground here. A lot of people have thought this for quite some time.

 

[Chips]

That he was overrated?

If so, I don't think that this is true.

Because I have always gotten HUGE push-back every time I have started calling him overrated in any thread.

More people have started saying it since people started disliking him as a person. Go figure.


IMO he was a top 10 center or at least bordering on it pre neck injury. He was doing amazing solo effort plays and scoring a lot (plenty relative to league scoring most years) with varying levels of talent on his wings over the years.


IMO he gets wayyy to much credit for struggling teams with shit management and or coaching… struggling. People are pretty much leaping assigning blame for those things to him at all


People already knew to dislike the Vegas management style as well as their previous coach for years, especially for how the management “values” it’s players. Vegas was already struggling a bit before he came there


Buffalo had joke management for years, and Krueger almost certainly was responsible for the decline/stunted growth of much of that roster; around the same time as the neck injury. Maybe he didn’t help, maybe he was only made captain because many teams just auto do that with the franchise guy but that’s not the same thing as causing it.


IMO he’s normally rated by some, underrated by others (far as revisionists underrated his past seasons). He could easily be on a cold streak right now and start scoring again.

 

[yada]

Only one player has hit 99 points or even close to it.

And it's definitely not Eichel.

Yikes i definitely disagree. I feel eichel is a good but over rated player and has been due to his draft position. Miller is a decent player but nowhere near franchise player and those 99 points wont be anything close to the normal kind of production jt miller will produce.

JT miller reached 500 points a few days ago (689 games 187 goals 501 points) but hes in his 11th season, eichel has 410 points (448 games 168 goals 414 points) in his 8th season including a 20 game season. Eichel averages a much better PPG and usually scores more goals per season.