Jack Eichel Overhyped or Overshadowed

[Pavels Dog]

Wasn't a big fan of him pre-injury and my opinion hasn't really changed for the better since. He's good, but seems consistently ranked like 10-20% too high. Doesn't help that he's also extremely unlikeable.

 

[Mach2]

So succinctly stated...had to add only a few Gigs to my RAM.

 

[tfwnogf]

He's very good, won a cup being one of the main sources of offence. Went toe to toe with mcdavid and imo outplayed him during that series. If anything he is underrated because he doesn't have the big point totals in the regular season but 2023 playoffs showed he can clutch up with the best of em.

 

[Neil Racki]

Slam dunk all american jack


AINEATCIMO

 

[DJJones]

Eichel seems like one the more consistently rated guys in the league.

He's the 8th-10th best center for pretty much everyone

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

The very next year however he began to show his true colors, the pre draft hype eichel has arrived. He came out determined more than ever showing he was n elite top ten talent. He could go end to end snipe any corner from anywhere the speed, keep away and dangle ability with the vision finally he had his Mackinnon like click looking unstoppable however the season was cut short due to another injury finishing with 68 games 36 goals 42 assists for 78 points with a fully healthy season he assuredly would have broken the 40 goal barrier and cracked 90 points scratching at 100 points.

COVID cut that season short, not injury.

 

[Faceboner]

COVID cut that season short, not injury.

Ahh my bad, I remember we were on the the verge of playoffs that year and sabres barely missed the play ins due to tie breaker I believe thank you for the correction.

 

[Stephen]

Jack Eichel’s skill level is jumps out at you. The casual explosive skating, the puck handling, shot arsenal. Everything is super high end and you can see why he was hyped. Individually this guy has it in him to be a 100 plus point player but has never gotten close. I think it would be good for the game if he broke out statistically and rejoined that conversation of elite centers of this generation.

 

[Neutrinos]

I mentioned Seguin as a comparable earlier in the thread, but stylistically, he may be closer to Yashin...

 

[Faceboner]

Jack Eichel’s skill level is jumps out at you. The casual explosive skating, the puck handling, shot arsenal. Everything is super high end and you can see why he was hyped. Individually this guy has it in him to be a 100 plus point player but has never gotten close. I think it would be good for the game if he broke out statistically and rejoined that conversation of elite centers of this generation.

That's my sentiment as well would be good for the league to have another high end talent that's also American along with Matthews for marketing purposes

 

[PunchImlach is Alive]

Finally hockey fans are coming around to what Buffalo has been saying all along - he's a bust and a locker room cancer. Maybe one of the worst hockey players of all time.

 

[saintunspecified]

I mentioned Seguin as a comparable earlier in the thread, but stylistically, he may be closer to Yashin...

No friggin' way.

Admittedly I didn't see a lot of Yashin on the Sens. On the Isles, I saw a guy with great hands, shot, and strength, who did not have a complete game + was further slowed by age & injuries. Claims that he was soft (wouldn't take a hit to make a play) were false.

I saw a lot of Eichel before and after the injury + then move. The thing that he lacked in Buffalo - the ability to fit into a winning team concept - he found in Vegas. His line was dominant, and Eichel effectively coordinated it like the true team player he never was in Buffalo. I've seen enough of Buffalo's struggles over the years to put that on Buffalo instead of Eichel. However, he isn't the kind of player who can transform an organization. So if that was expected of him, he was overhyped.

My list of active players who have done that (transformed their org): Barkov, Makar (not MacKinnon imo), McDavid (it's been a struggle), Kucherov, Crosby (obv), and Ovie. Even as a cup winner, he's not one of them. So overhyped if that's what the hype expected, which puts cupless John Tavares & his hype in perspective (I am a NYI fan!).

 

[TageGod]

I've never seen someone better at controlling a zone entry AND retaining control even after going to the boards in puck battles and physical contact. He also lost a neck for a while so that sucked.

 

[Mirka the Turka]

Jack Eichel is so good. Why Vegas won their cup, he was the missing piece. Absolutely got robbed for the Conn Smythe though.​

 

[Toby91ca]

Because looking at his individual career, he has underwhelmed relative to the hype. He has no individual hardware. One season of any Hart votes at all (finished 8th). And that’s it. He’s comfortably a point per game player and #1 center. But his hype was for even more than that.

Is he though? He's below PPG on his career and was below PPG in 6 of his 9 seasons. I'd say he is around a PPG player as he was still very close in some of the years he's missed, but he's certainly not "comfortably PPG"

 

[Toby91ca]

End of the day, Eichel (FR at BU) probably would still go #1 OA for all but a few drafts from 2010 onwards.
Save for MacKinnon, McDavid, Matthews (coin flip), Bedard.
Really, shouldn't have had as much talk about him being as close to McDavid, but he's a legit 1C. Very few players can drag a team out of chaos.

Think based on his size he would have gone ahead of J. Hughes. Cellebrini, probably edge goes to Eichel.

But you are using hindsight and suggesting he would have gone #1 in most of the years and only looking at the guys that went #1 those years. Also, if you ask all 32 GMs to draft between Matthews and Eichel today, there is no way Matthews isn't being picked. I get the arguments for one vs. the other, but I don't think it's a coin flip.

You mentioned a few that would have gone ahead of him, but there is also Kuch, Draisaitl, Makar as the easy picks.