Jack Eichel is quietly becoming a top-5 player in the league

[Deen]

He was dominant on the PP in the cycle when he played Calgary. They should Gorilla glue Mittelstadt to his wing.

 

[Feniggles]

This man is a monster this season. I don't see how anyone can blame him for being a bad leader like it was in the past. He does everything a franchise center has to. Sabres just don't have what it takes to be a playoff team.

things i did when i was 23 seemed fun. watching a 23 yearold run my favorite hockey team is neat.

 

[Feniggles]

It definitely cannot be argued that he’s a top 10 centre, that’s for sure.

Based on the HF consensus list in the summer where he was placed 11th among centres I think if you ran that again he’d definitely pass Scheifele, Tavares and Stamkos to put him at minimum 8.

The lists in the summer from the media that had Eichel as like the 40th best player in the league were just absurd though.

McDavid
Mackinnon
Crosby
Kane
Kucherov
Barkov
Draisaitl

Those 7 guys should be in basically everybody’s top 10. After that there are a lot of names you have to consider, especially including defenceman as well.

eichel needs to work on his faceoffs., might have some wingers on that list. and u a canadian! you spelled centre heh. looks so wierd, CENTER, CENTAUR,CEN-TRE.

 

[Gurglesons]

I don’t think he is top ten, but he is in that borderline group that Kopitar was part of where on some nights he single handed dominated teams.

 

[AegonLeConqueror]

Coming from the guy who gets off on ripping the sabres, the last paragraph isn’t shocking. But keep hoping that will happen. As long as he’s playing he’s never going to be a below PPG player until he slows down in his 30’s.

And your just very wrong about me throwing it in everyone’s face. I don’t start threads anymore like you did about the sabres sucking, or a jinx thread to get them to suck, I just reply for the most part.

I only before did stuff to show people what he was doing because no one wanted to watch a bad buffalo team and it was always his injuries that kept Him back from being a top scorer, his second season he was 10th In points per game. Now I don’t even care to talk about him as much, because people are getting it. His play speaks for itself.

You can keep hating it if you wish, life will be a lot easier though if you don’t. And LOL at the cheap mile long posts joke to try and gain positive attention to yourself I guess? Redundant garbage that wasn’t relevant, this right here is the longest post I’ve done in awhile. (Edit- so there was one a bit longer. I don’t keep tabs the main points remain correct.)

Huh...

 

[Tage2Tuch]

View attachment 284591
Huh...

Did you not see I said from now to his 30,s. I gave no indication I meant before.

And two of those three seasons he was a few points back.

Anyway decent 8 game point streak he’s got 13 in that time. (Edit 13 game point streak 23 points)

It’s so funny how so many try and discredit this guy. What you took a picture of to try and make t sound likes he’s a lot worse he still has comprised 220 points in his last 210 games from season two to now (it’s probably a few games better then that) but regardless I just said he isn’t going to be under PPG until his 30’s. GOING. Meaning going on. Not before. What’s even funnier is people who don’t watch him play have no idea how many points he’d be putting up with guys who weren’t streaky as hell, go in hibernation mode for months at a time, fan in open net tap ins, etc

Mcdavid would also be putting up even higher totals elsewhere but at least draisaitl is a legit superstar. What other forward on the sabres is? Skinner? Nah, not legit superstar or anders Lee is as Lee hit 40 twice while skinner has once. And that was with Eichel. He’s not with Eichel this season, and he’s still been impressive with goals but goals and points pace is a lot less as expected.

 

[BKarchitect]

- Top 10 “player” as in all positions and considering all factors (extending a bit beyond just a quarter of one season)? Probably not yet...as others have mentioned you get fairly get to about 5 centers alone before hitting Eichel still. Top 15-20 though and he’s still ascending while some still ahead will be aging downward naturally.

- Top 10 “season” thus far at any position? Yeah , I think you can make a compelling case. He’s been fantastic and unstoppable and everything people wanted him to be when he was drafted.

- Top 10 “MVP” in terms of importance and drive for his team? Yeah absolutely and if the Sabres can reverse their recent slide and if they somehow make the playoffs and he continues this play, he would be a worthy name to mention as a Hart candidate. Long was to go though.

Couple of just interesting notes for me:

1) He’ll soon pass Kane as the torch-bearer for the Americans up front. It was a position that was always going to be his. I’d still take Kaner ahead now (especially in the playoffs) but there basically is no gap now and by next year Eichel will probably be the best American, forward at least, in the NHL. Matthews of course would be the other guy, I actually like Eichel a bit more right now though. I’m having a hard time seeing any American defender having this kind of impact off the top of my head. When Gibson is in the zone he’d be as important as anybody but goalies are just crazy creatures.

2) Please do not twist what I’m about to say: one guy leads the league in points and although he plays with the worlds best player and yet he’s out scoring him. So I’d take Drai in any kind of list you want to make over Eichel - doesn’t matter who his linemate is. The numbers are absurd. But...and here comes the maybe controversial part - I don’t think there’s much separating Eichel and Draisatl in terms of absurdly skilled, big, offensively dominating forwards. They just play in completely different situations where one is part of the best duo in the league and the other often has to single handedly drag his team around in the offensive zone.

I think it would be pretty fair to say if you plopped Drai onto Buffalos roster all alone and he produced the type of season Eichel is having - you’d say “hey see Draisatl is showing you he’s still crazy dominant even without McDavid next to him - this is the proof”. So in a way that’s praise for what Eichel is doing. Would Eichel next to McDavid equal Drai’s season? That’s what I’m not comfortable saying and why Draisatl deserves all praise - there’s no hypothetical involved, Drai leads the NHL in scoring with an absurd pace. So yes it’s Drai but Eichel is in that zone, in that space in terms of talent.

 

[Melkor]

- Top 10 “player” as in all positions and considering all factors (extending a bit beyond just a quarter of one season)? Probably not yet...as others have mentioned you get fairly get to about 5 centers alone before hitting Eichel still. Top 15-20 though and he’s still ascending while some still ahead will be aging downward naturally.

- Top 10 “season” thus far at any position? Yeah , I think you can make a compelling case. He’s been fantastic and unstoppable and everything people wanted him to be when he was drafted.

- Top 10 “MVP” in terms of importance and drive for his team? Yeah absolutely and if the Sabres can reverse their recent slide and if they somehow make the playoffs and he continues this play, he would be a worthy name to mention as a Hart candidate. Long was to go though.

Couple of just interesting notes for me:

1) He’ll soon pass Kane as the torch-bearer for the Americans up front. It was a position that was always going to be his. I’d still take Kaner ahead now (especially in the playoffs) but there basically is no gap now and by next year Eichel will probably be the best American, forward at least, in the NHL. Matthews of course would be the other guy, I actually like Eichel a bit more right now though. I’m having a hard time seeing any American defender having this kind of impact off the top of my head. When Gibson is in the zone he’d be as important as anybody but goalies are just crazy creatures.

2) Please do not twist what I’m about to say: one guy leads the league in points and although he plays with the worlds best player and yet he’s out scoring him. So I’d take Drai in any kind of list you want to make over Eichel - doesn’t matter who his linemate is. The numbers are absurd. But...and here comes the maybe controversial part - I don’t think there’s much separating Eichel and Draisatl in terms of absurdly skilled, big, offensively dominating forwards. They just play in completely different situations where one is part of the best duo in the league and the other often has to single handedly drag his team around in the offensive zone.

I think it would be pretty fair to say if you plopped Drai onto Buffalos roster all alone and he produced the type of season Eichel is having - you’d say “hey see Draisatl is showing you he’s still crazy dominant even without McDavid next to him - this is the proof”. So in a way that’s praise for what Eichel is doing. Would Eichel next to McDavid equal Drai’s season? That’s what I’m not comfortable saying and why Draisatl deserves all praise - there’s no hypothetical involved, Drai leads the NHL in scoring with an absurd pace. So yes it’s Drai but Eichel is in that zone, in that space in terms of talent.

Generating that kind of offense that Draisaitl does with McDavid is not just about the skill although it plays a huge part. It's also chemistry and an ability to play wing position. Draisaitl kinda stuck in between positions whereas nobody can say for sure who he is C or W. Eichel strikes me as a natural C, he loves to drive the pace, he likes to have the puck on his stick and have a last say in how every offensive entry he plays a part in develops. He needs his own Draisaitl to get this team to the playoffs. Right now I'd like a change of scenery for him. Buffalo needs another legit difference maker on the offense to even get taken seriously.

 

[Artemis Clyde Frog]

I feel Eichel is the player who messes up the most of the Sabres. So many mistakes and stupid plays. BUT at the same time he is the player making stuff happen offensively and as long as he produces much more upsides than downsides it's hard to complain. If he cleans up his game even further he can be an established top 5 player imo. The potential is there!

 

[Washed Up 29YearOld]

I honestly don’t even want to talk him up in here despite the posts on the first page which probably indicated such. My only gripe before was that no one really noticed. My point was always that From the beginning of his second season when he got injured the day before the year started and came back from the first of two sprained ankles, in December 2016...he’s been a top 15 point producer on league. On league low offenses. On 31st worst teams. From December 2016 to now he’s been that dominant, people don’t have to like it but he hasn’t finish with lower then 0.95 PPG since then. He always has the hardest match ups. How a guy can do that at such a young age (earlier in) would suggest he was elite. But no you only heard overpaid, overrated (when he gets no recognition like the other stars) oh well, people can feel that way.

Now that he’s getting his due I really don’t feel the need to brag about it, (I was just explaining my stance above) but I’ll still reply to people when I feel there’s something to challenge or add of course. Like so:




Not everyone has to be Bergeron.

Yet he’s got a better plus minus then Barkov (And we know what he’s praised for) and the sabres have bad goaltending, yet Florida signed the ten million dollar two time vezina winner. It’s just plus minus sure but because of the way he skates (top five skater in league) it allows him to backcheck more efficiently which he’s immensely improved on since coming Into the bigs.

Speaking of his skating since you sort of ripped on it....

Ps- he’s finally getting respect, why not just let him have that rather then trying to find something, that “coasting” by the way is his skating style. He looks raptor like and it allows him to dangle by most, and make quick transitions into whatever zone he wants. He doesent has the typical mackinnon crossover acceleration take off.



Bottom line, he as some good teammates now but I can only imagine how many points he’d have on Tampa bay or wherever else, we’ve see wasaayyyy too many players in his tenure fan on beautiful feed where they’ve hadn’t open net and shoot wide.

These are his last three seasons in his environment.

57 in 61
64 in 67
82 in 77, or 76?) one of them

Now he has what 34 in 26 or 27 and has finally got the goal scoring down. Thats good for any player let alone a guy in his first five seasons, having sprained both ankles. He’s electric and can dominate at any time he’s like a mAlkin (not as good as he was) but in that same dominant way.



Yeah yeah I’m talking him up still but it’s just facts. If anyone has noticed I haven’t started an Eichel thread in way over a year and don’t plan too...I’d rather try and be humble from here on out.

Did you not see I said from now to his 30,s. I gave no indication I meant before.

And two of those three seasons he was a few points back.

Anyway nice 8 game point streak he’s got 13 in that time.

It’s so funny how so many try and discredit this guy. Hilarious actually. In that time you took a picture of he still has comprised 220 points in his last 210 games (it’s provably a few games better then that) but regardless what hit quoting had you payed any attention was a conversation where I said get used to it because he isn’t going to be under PPG until his 30’s. GOING. Meaning going on. Not before. What’s even funnier is people who don’t watch him play have no idea how many points he’d be putting up with guys who weren’t streaky as hell, go in hibernation mode for months at a time, fan in open net tap ins, etc etc

To think TheJackAttack has been right this whole time.

 

[OKR]

For me he has been top 10 player for a while now, his stats have started to back that up, and everytime i watch him, he makes me wonder how he doesn’t get multiple points every game. Also as i was watching some other game, there was a on-screen stat that showed he had scored over 30% of all Buffalo’s points and led the league in that aspect.

 

[JasonRoseEh]

Eichel is sick, screw the haters.

 

[Hi ImHFNYR]

Coming from the guy who gets off on ripping the sabres, the last paragraph isn’t shocking. But keep hoping that will happen. As long as he’s playing he’s never going to be a below PPG player until he slows down in his 30’s.

And your just very wrong about me throwing it in everyone’s face. I don’t start threads anymore like you did about the sabres sucking, or a jinx thread to get them to suck, I just reply for the most part.

I only before did stuff to show people what he was doing because no one wanted to watch a bad buffalo team and it was always his injuries that kept Him back from being a top scorer, his second season he was 10th In points per game. Now I don’t even care to talk about him as much, because people are getting it. His play speaks for itself.

You can keep hating it if you wish, life will be a lot easier though if you don’t. And LOL at the cheap mile long posts joke to try and gain positive attention to yourself I guess? Redundant garbage that wasn’t relevant, this right here is the longest post I’ve done in awhile. (Edit- so there was one a bit longer. I don’t keep tabs the main points remain correct.)

As an objective person who has never spoken to you, ever.

I definitely was reading some of your posts and thinking you were going on and on and on way too much.

I used to get eichel and mcdavid on my PS4 teams. Thought they'd both offensively run the league ragged for years. Glad to see him stepping it up the last two seasons

 

[Neutral Hockey Fan]

Other than Barkov, I think Eichel is the best young centre in the Atlantic division

 

[The Winter Soldier]

He deserves all the praise he is getting. You can tell he wants to win badly. He has handled the captaincy with maturity. He has made an effort to be a complete 200 ft player. I was impressed with him before, but now he is just a hell of a player.

 

[Dr Black]

I have been pulling for Jack Eichel since he broke into the league in 2015. Being in the unenviable position of being drafted 2nd after Connor McDavid has put a lot of extra pressure on him. For the most part, he has delivered under such pressure. It is very encouraging to see that he has steadily improved every year since entering the league. As of late, he's looking like the player he was always projected to be. An all-star bordering on generational. Something I am very pleased to see.

 

[Yatzhee]

His defensive game has come along decent. His offensive game is reaching where it should be.
I will say his line (Olofsson-Eichel-Reinhart) still gets hemmed in from time to time but not nearly as often as seasons past.
Botterill needs to build a 2nd and 3rd scoring line scenario that takes some of the pressure off of Jack a bit, but Eichels performance is improving steadily imo.

 

[tealhockey]

The thing that really excites me, if/when they make the playoffs, he's the type that can do serious damage in the spring imo

 

[ORRFForever]

He deserves all the praise he is getting. You can tell he wants to win badly. He has handled the captaincy with maturity. He has made an effort to be a complete 200 ft player. I was impressed with him before, but now he is just a hell of a player.

Yes.

Will he ever be Connor McDavid? No, but he's terrific in his own right. He has also left Auston Matthews in his dust.

 

[Kreator]

Really good skilled player. Could be SO MUCH better if he wasn't so entitled and arrogant.

 

[LGBlues]

Yes.

Will he ever be Connor McDavid? No, but he's terrific in his own right. He has also left Auston Matthews in his dust.

He may never put up as many points as McDavid but he is more fun to watch than Matthews and McDavid now.

 

[Quiet Jack]

Yes.

Will he ever be Connor McDavid? No, but he's terrific in his own right. He has also left Auston Matthews in his dust.

He has not left Matthews in his dust.

He may never put up as many points as McDavid but he is more fun to watch than Matthews and McDavid now.

I agree that Eichel is more fun to watch than Matthews. I can't comment on McDavid though. I think I've watched him for about 10 minutes this year.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

He has not left Matthews in his dust.


I agree that Eichel is more fun to watch than Matthews. I can't comment on McDavid though. I think I've watched him for about 10 minutes this year.

McDavids entertainment value this season
Has Almost been transitioned to a duo expectation. When you see draisaitl strong on the puck, then mcdavids speed you see one and think where’s the other? Where as before your eyes would just be mainly on 97. From an entertainment standpoint it’s just different expectations because of that. I’ve always found him more entertaining then Matthews, even in his first couple of seasons where he was awful defensively he always had a more creative offensive side which is why people said he had a higher offensive ceiling and certain/some leafs fans lost their minds! That being said MAtthews is scary and I fully expect him to put produce Eichel tonight in the second back to back.

Matthews has that game breaking ability a bit better in the those moments (not in game 7s) but it would Be unfair to critique that since Eichel hasn’t been in one. However Matthews is clutch in the reg season (still decent In playoffs but yet to be clutch in a Sakic yzerman messjer game seven way) and Eichel seems to get an extra gear at least on the scoresheet when he plays Matthews. He always has the gear but he makes sure he gets on the board for the most part versus him. Again I expect auston to dominate tonight.

 

[ORRFForever]

He has not left Matthews in his dust.


I agree that Eichel is more fun to watch than Matthews. I can't comment on McDavid though. I think I've watched him for about 10 minutes this year.

He sure did last night.

Truth be told, I have watched 10+ times more Matthews games than Eichel, but Matthews dogs it a LOT. Not physical, no back check, terrible defensively, overpaid.

Maybe you guys feel the same way about Eichel but, last night, he sure was great.

 

[The Worst One]

I don't think he's that good.