He's a below average defensive player and he only put up 80 points twice (and that's giving him last season, where he finished with 78). I see a lot of pro-Eichel folks going on about excuses. You want to see excuses (or Eich-scuses, I'm sure with how often they get trotted out, they have to have a trademark by now)? Watch Buffalo fans start whining whenever you ask them why their "top 5 player in the league" only finished top ten in scoring once (last year, tied for tenth, in a season where his shooting percentage was 5 points higher than his career average and a clear outlier). Ask them why he's otherwise never finished higher than mid 20s and has finished outside the top 50 multiple times. Ask them why his scoring sloooooooooows down in the stretch run, seemingly right around the time Buffalo is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. You'll get to hear all of the excuses. Bad team, bad coaches, bad linemates, bad luck, etc etc etc. The kicker is that whole song is a cover--the original was recorded by Columbus when they were selling Nash as 10x the player he was if he could only wear another sweater. Shock of all shocks, Nash as a Ranger was exactly what he was as a Blue Jacket. And Eichel as a Ranger will be exactly what he is as a Sabre--a talented, somewhat underperforming player with injury problems whose reputation somehow blinds ~70% of these boards to the fact that he just doesn't produce at those levels. He could have all the talent in the world, but if he's not shoving the net full of points (due to being on IR or just not giving a f*** for a month or two of the season), then that talent isn't worth a damn thing.
Trading for Eichel means losing not only what we would pay to acquire him but also losing Zibanejad (can't afford both). I'd rather trade Zib for a high end C prospect (I still think there could be something to be done with Newhook, especially if Colorado washes out of the playoffs early this year) and sign a short-term stop-gap for a season or two.
