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

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Neutral Hockey Fan said:
Is buffalo still “years ahead” of the leafs in the rebuilding process? That was always a classic TWS line.

I actually like the sabres, more than Toronto actually, but this organization has been an utter failure. There’s really nothing else to say at this point
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Just wait until this season is over and the talk about next season Buffalo is showing everyone starts again. It's already a yearly tradition.
 
razor8 said:
Just wait until this season is over and the talk about next season Buffalo is showing everyone starts again. It's already a yearly tradition.
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I agree, although the sabres yearly tradition of having a hot start makes it worse.

I think it’s time to just admit that the sabres are a bad organization, from the owner right down through literally every aspect an organization can have. It’s not like it’s a secret anymore.
 
Yawn. They had one hot start last season and part of this season. It's not a "yearly" thing.

Two seasons ago we were in 30th at this point. 29th through October.
Three seasons ago we were in 28th at this point. 24th through October.
Four seasons ago we were in 29th at this point. 25th through October.
Five seasons ago we were in 28th at this point. 29th through October.
Go back further and it only gets worse.

When you're missing 3 of your top six forwards and have no depth it gets ugly fast. You can look at a roster and say oh they might make the playoffs but then injuries happen. Also most of us expected Hutton to at least play at a backup level. Right now its more like the situation with the Leafs, we're riding Ullmark because Hutton just isn't an option...except Ullmark isn't as good as Andersen currently.
 
tucker3434 said:
Wow, on pace for 50 goals. Prior career high of 28. I’ll be interested to see what happens with his shooting percentage for both the rest of the season and beyond. He did have some room for improvement up until this year.
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He worked a ton on his shot last off-season, so the improvement reflects real improvement, not just better luck.
 
Is it just me or did Jack's supporting cast just have their best game to date? Anyway - Eichel has become to a favorite a watch, at least Buffalo gets that.
 
tsujimoto74 said:
He worked a ton on his shot last off-season, so the improvement reflects real improvement, not just better luck.
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I can believe that to an extent, but 18% seems a bit steep, especially since he’s almost doubling his prior average. Not many guys can maintain 18% unless they’re an Alex Tanguay type that’s just super selective and doesn’t shoot much.

But if he can settle into 13% with about 300 shots a year, that’s 40 goals a season. Not bad.
 
tucker3434 said:
I can believe that to an extent, but 18% seems a bit steep, especially since he’s almost doubling his prior average. Not many guys can maintain 18% unless they’re an Alex Tanguay type that’s just super selective and doesn’t shoot much.

But if he can settle into 13% with about 300 shots a year, that’s 40 goals a season. Not bad.
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Lots of great goal scorers routinely shoot well above league average. Matthews' career sh%, for instance is a hair under 16%. 18 is a bit high, but I think he'll be closer to that moving forward than the 9-10% he was shooting before this season. He's just taken his whole game to another level this year.
 
Given Eichel's supporting cast, I don't know how anybody could argue he isn't at worst top4 in this league if not better
 
Kamiccolo said:
How has a team with a **** ton of top 10 picks and top 5 picks, that's been rebuilding for a decade, icing that ****ty of a roster?? How?? Someone needs to be fired.
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Draft picks since Eichel:

Mittelstadt (2017): not NHL ready.
Nylander (2016): Chicago and no idea how he is doing (traded for Joker who all Sabres fans thought would be in the AHL this year so call it a wash).
Cozens (2019): WHL. May or may not be on the team next year.
Dahlin (2018): in the NHL.

2012-2015:

Girgensons (2012): NHL. Solid 4th liner.
Grigorenko (2012): traded for ROR. KHL now.
Risto (2013): finally putting it together.
Zadorov (2013): traded for ROR. Sufficient at his job.
Reinhart (2014): 1st line RW.
Eichel (2015): he sucks!

Sure one could say they shoulda picked someone else (eg Draisaitl instead of Reinhart), but that’s also assuming that the two players would be the same players they are now.

The problem is that they haven’t had too many hits after the 1st round. Is that scouting? Or development? Or both?

Regardless I hate how crappy this team is. I hate that your damn team is miles ahead of mine. My team sucks so much I can’t even bother watching them when they play against the Leafs. At least when your team sucked earlier this year they were exciting. For better or for worse.
 
Kamiccolo said:
How has a team with a **** ton of top 10 picks and top 5 picks, that's been rebuilding for a decade, icing that ****ty of a roster?? How?? Someone needs to be fired.
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Are you talking about the leafs from 2005-2015?
 
So...the guy currently sits at 7 in points and 4 in goals on once again one of the worst hockey teams of the season. The same story over and over and over again year in and year out. I feel like Jack is at a point where he's very close to running out of patience with this franchise and finally ask for a trade.
 
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Melkor said:
So...the guy currently sits at 7 in points and 4 in goals on once again one of the worst hockey teams of the season. The same story over and over and over again year in and year out. I feel like Jack is at a point where he's very close to running out of patience with this franchise and finally ask for a trade.
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good on him, Get ready for Jack-Pastanak for the next 10 years
 
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Kamiccolo said:
How has a team with a **** ton of top 10 picks and top 5 picks, that's been rebuilding for a decade, icing that ****ty of a roster?? How?? Someone needs to be fired.
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Im not going to go in depth about the Sabres situation because I’m not that well informed, but IMO, maybe players just don’t want to play in Buffalo. If I was a UFA, I’d much rather player somewhere else, regardless of how good or bad the team is. Maybe some players think, “Hey, I’d like to play with Dahlin and Jack, I just don’t want to live in Buffalo.”
 
pb1300 said:
Im not going to go in depth about the Sabres situation because I’m not that well informed, but IMO, maybe players just don’t want to play in Buffalo. If I was a UFA, I’d much rather player somewhere else, regardless of how good or bad the team is. Maybe some players think, “Hey, I’d like to play with Dahlin and Jack, I just don’t want to live in Buffalo.”
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I think that's the general surface level reaction to living and playing in buffalo, but i think once players get here then they realize it's actually a decent city. Hell, there have been a lot of ex sabres who were traded, but come back to live in Buffalo after their career is over. At this point, if no one wants to play in buffalo it's probably because the team has been hot f***ing garbage for the better part of a decade.
 
I can only imagine how dominant Eichel would be, and he is already if he had a team around him. One of these days he will. This will be fun to watch.
 
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