In your opinion what is holding Jack Eichel back?

[stokes84]

Sometimes when a player is talented coaches tend to let them do what they want and stop coaching them...treat them differently than other players. I think that there are small areas in his game that could be addressed that would improve his game. One thing I noticed last night was his reaction after his goal on the pass he received from Olafsson which isn't something I have seen a lot from him. It was a genuine look of appreciation and respect towards Olafsson.

You could tell he was really trying to work with Olofsson last night. People criticize his attitude, but I think it’s very obvious that he cares and works hard to be a leader and good example.

 

[tsujimoto74]

You could tell he was really trying to work with Olofsson last night. People criticize his attitude, but I think it’s very obvious that he cares and works hard to be a leader and good example.

He definitely wanted to get Olofsson his 1st goal and was trying his damnedest to set it up on the PP. I've also noticed that he spends a lot of time talking to the new young guys on the bench between plays. He's done it with both Nylander and Olofsson.

 

[MagnumForce2]

You could tell he was really trying to work with Olofsson last night. People criticize his attitude, but I think it’s very obvious that he cares and works hard to be a leader and good example.

Eichel in my opinion needs to work on his acceleration and short game. He has excellent long range speed but lacks quickness. He needs to shorten his stride when playing in the offensive zone....shorter quick bursts. I would also like to see him simplify his game and make quicker decisions and passes particularly on the PP.

 

[YoSoyLalo]

First and foremost, Eichel is holding himself back IMO. This may strange, but when I watch him play, it just looks like he's playing with the attitude of "I don't want to show off and appear to be better than everybody else". It's that same attitude you see with guys in Beer Leagues that are quite obviously too good for that particular league but want to get a skate in.

Honestly, he's a guy that constantly needs to be pushed and motivated to be better. Even if you have to tell him, "Eichel, you're not that good" in hopes of him getting the motivation to prove you wrong, you have to kind of give him a wake up call. I would love for him to kick his training up a notch, and not just focus on the training in the weight room, but raise his level of training. Go train with the McDavid's, Marchand's, and MacKinnon's of the league. More time training in tight, against elite players.

IMO, Eichel could be an easy 2 PPG player (I've said 4 PPG before and still think so). He needs to tweak his mindset and the areas he tries to play in on the ice. Make guys take penalties on you. He's as strong as anybody in the league, he's faster than mostly everybody in the league. If he's not making it hard for guys to stop him going to the net/crease, then Jack is not trying hard enough.

There are other areas of the team than can have an impact on his numbers, but at the end of the day, Jack can only control his actions and his attitude. It's on him to get better.

When you say 4 PPG player, you don’t mean averages 4 points per game...right?

 

[OkimLom]

When you say 4 PPG player, you don’t mean averages 4 points per game...right?

Yes.

 

[YoSoyLalo]

Yes.

Are you joking?

You think Jack Eichel could score 300 points in an NHL season?

Just to be clear.

 

[OkimLom]

Are you joking?

You think Jack Eichel could score 300 points in an NHL season?

Just to be clear.

It's not to be taken TOO seriously, but I believe he can be a guy, if he puts forth the effort, that he can put multiple goals, and assist multiple times a game. When he is determined he can create offense on most if not all shifts. His Strength, his Speed, and ability to control the pace of the game, he could be an absolute dominant force like we have seen in Mario. Now I know no player has averaged 4 PPG in the NHL and I'm not saying he's Mario, but Eichel, much like McDavid are special players. So it's not exactly something I say like those are my expected statistics, but the type of player he can be. This of course depends on Eichel having the motivation to do so.

 

[Uberpecker]

In a word?
Losing.

North American pro sports with its salary caps, entry drafts and player trades is actually quite idiosyncratic compared to how things are run elsewhere. A player of Eichel's talent wouldn't have been stuck with a bottom dweller for years if he were, say, a football (soccer) player.

But here he is, on the tail end of his fourth season with once again essentially nothing to play for and a nightly chance to injure himself. Through the enthusiasm-fueled, but short-lived victory streak he showed what kind of player he can be, but once the winning started to run on fumes and managment/coaching did nothing to help sustain the momentum he began losing his edge more and more.

You have a player like Eichel, you build a competitive team around him including competent coaching as well as a competitive game plan. That hasn't happened in Buffalo so far. And until it happens I don't really blame Jack for not being the best player he can be.

 

[Bobby Bottle Service]

His stick is still too long. He's shortened it every year and has improved every year. His overly long stick is great for poke-checks, but really limits him in close towards the net and makes it easier for people to strip the puck away.

If he used a stick similar to Kopitar... top-5 scorer.

 

[valet]

His team sucks and he is clearly the best player on it w no one really even rivaling him. Any other team around the league w a player as good as jack has at least one other elite or near elite player on it to eat up tough matchups...... Jack doesn't get that luxury. It's not rocket science

 

[Snippit]

I recently watched Nathan Mackinnon's interview on Spittin Chiclets from this summer and was reminded of this thread.

Mackinnon basically said after his 4th year (before his Hart season) it hurt watching all these other young stars (McDavid, Matthews, Marner, Kucherov were the ones he mentioned) come in and dominate while he was struggling. He also described himself as a hot-head and that he would get super frustrated easily during games (like Jack).

I gotta think Eichel is feeling a similar way. He was supposed to be the best young forward in the league after McDavid, and now young guys like Draisaitl, Barkov, Mackinnon, Matthews, Pettersson and maybe others have passed him or are in the conversation with him when they weren't before. Most lists probably rank him as a top 10-15 centre and 15-25 forward. Still obviously really good but he's a super competitive guy: I'm sure he at least wants to be included in the Barkov/Mackinnon/Matthews tier.

Mackinnon said he hired a sports psychologist that off-season and that helped him.

With Eichel's tools he should easily be in the very top tier of centres - you get the feeling he has another gear. I definitely wonder if Eichel is in a situation like Mackinnon where he just needs something to click mentally. Or maybe Eichel's ceiling really is as an 80-90 centre, as opposed to 100+ point centre.

The part I'm referencing is at 20:30 of the interview if you want to watch it yourself.

 

[jd1970]

Eichel needs another star center to take the pressure off...
But he didn't want him on the team.

 

[Moskau]

I recently watched Nathan Mackinnon's interview on Spittin Chiclets from this summer and was reminded of this thread.

Mackinnon basically said after his 4th year (before his Hart season) it hurt watching all these other young stars (McDavid, Matthews, Marner, Kucherov were the ones he mentioned) come in and dominate while he was struggling. He also described himself as a hot-head and that he would get super frustrated easily during games (like Jack).

I gotta think Eichel is feeling a similar way. He was supposed to be the best young forward in the league after McDavid, and now young guys like Draisaitl, Barkov, Mackinnon, Matthews, Pettersson and maybe others have passed him or are in the conversation with him when they weren't before. Most lists probably rank him as a top 10-15 centre and 15-25 forward. Still obviously really good but he's a super competitive guy: I'm sure he at least wants to be included in the Barkov/Mackinnon/Matthews tier.

Mackinnon said he hired a sports psychologist that off-season and that helped him.

With Eichel's tools he should easily be in the very top tier of centres - you get the feeling he has another gear. I definitely wonder if Eichel is in a situation like Mackinnon where he just needs something to click mentally. Or maybe Eichel's ceiling really is as an 80-90 centre, as opposed to 100+ point centre.

The part I'm referencing is at 20:30 of the interview if you want to watch it yourself.

Even when struggling MacKinnon still used his speed to take the puck to the net and put himself in prime scoring positions. Something Jack just doesn't do. It's incredibly frustrating that he's one of the strongest players in the game, has been packing on muscle since he was 12, and he refuses to cut to the center of the ice with the puck on his stick. But then he doesn't shy away from contact along the boards at all. It's puzzling and makes me wonder if he got lit up skating there early on in his career because he doesn't even like going to the face-off circle to receive a pass. To me that's the biggest thing holding him back as a player. His unwillingness to go to prime scoring areas on the ice. If Hockey was just getting the puck into the offensive zone and skating along the boards he would be the best in the league though. Although his stick handling is pretty average which may be another reason he's reluctant to attack defensemen in the middle of the ice.

 

[mechaworm]

I think 100+ points has always been a very high expectation. Coming out of the draft, you can't fairly expect that of anyone short of Crosby/McDavid. And even Crosby's not that player most years.

A PPG center with a decent defensive game is good enough. That's a top 15 center in the league, maybe top 40 player overall. That's what we tanked for. If you don't draft them, these types of players only change teams a couple times a decade. That's what we got. At the time of the 2015 draft, I remember saying, sure, McDavid may be Crosby, but Eichel should be an Anze Kopitar type -- a clear 1C with enough physical gifts that you can't shut him down in the playoffs -- and that's someone you can build a champion around with a smart front office.

Waiting for Jack Eichel to enter the MVP race is a losing proposition. You have a good 1C. A lot of teams don't. Build around him. And if you can't afford to, that's your fault.

 

[joshjull]

I recently watched Nathan Mackinnon's interview on Spittin Chiclets from this summer and was reminded of this thread.

Mackinnon basically said after his 4th year (before his Hart season) it hurt watching all these other young stars (McDavid, Matthews, Marner, Kucherov were the ones he mentioned) come in and dominate while he was struggling. He also described himself as a hot-head and that he would get super frustrated easily during games (like Jack).

I gotta think Eichel is feeling a similar way. He was supposed to be the best young forward in the league after McDavid, and now young guys like Draisaitl, Barkov, Mackinnon, Matthews, Pettersson and maybe others have passed him or are in the conversation with him when they weren't before. Most lists probably rank him as a top 10-15 centre and 15-25 forward. Still obviously really good but he's a super competitive guy: I'm sure he at least wants to be included in the Barkov/Mackinnon/Matthews tier.

Mackinnon said he hired a sports psychologist that off-season and that helped him.

With Eichel's tools he should easily be in the very top tier of centres - you get the feeling he has another gear. I definitely wonder if Eichel is in a situation like Mackinnon where he just needs something to click mentally. Or maybe Eichel's ceiling really is as an 80-90 centre, as opposed to 100+ point centre.

The part I'm referencing is at 20:30 of the interview if you want to watch it yourself.

Mack having more total points than Jack was entirely due to PP production and playing 5 more games (82gms) than Jack (77gms). I think you’re searching for something thats not really a issue.

5v5 production
Jack —-> 47pts (.61ppg)
Mack —-> 47pts (.57ppg)

ES production
Jack —> 56pts (.73ppg)
Mack -> 62pts (.76ppg)

PP production
Jack —-> 26pts (.34ppg)
Mack —> 37pts (.45 ppg)

Total production
Jack —-> 82pts (1.07 ppg)
Mack —> 99pts (1.21 ppg)

 

[Team Cozens]

A strong 2nd line would do wonders for match ups. Eichel has zero support. Even in the last game the Hurricanes were hooking and interfering all night. Jack doesn’t get the calls that most stars get. Maybe that will come with winning.

 

[Shnooks]

Jack Eichel is holding Jack Eichel back...he doesn't have a killer instinct.

 

[Bendium]

Most top players only have one part of their game that is elite and their game evolves to take advantage of it. Very few have more than one. To get the most out of them you need to understand what they do better than anyone else and build a line around them to take advantage.

I don't know what other people think of him, but from what I have seen Jack's gift lies in his elite puck position capability both in short space and at full speed. He has above average but not elite speed. He has a very good but not elite shot. He is a solid but not elite passer. He has only average quickness (zero to full speed time) and is just solid defensively. So to take advantage of what he is really good at he needs to be skating with the puck and attacking open space with possession. He needs wingers that are also fast and excellent skaters. It is going to be a run and gun style. Skinner is the only other elite skater on this team. His shifty ice dancing matches up well with Jack. There isn't another on the team that fits. The closest is Rodriguez who could play the other wing till we trade in the right player. Mittelstadt is worth a try on that wing as well. Let Jack be Jack and don't try to turn him into McDavid or McKinnon.

 

[Chainshot]

Eichel needs another star center to take the pressure off...
But he didn't want him on the team.

That take is smoking hot.

 

[Chainshot]

Jack Eichel is holding Jack Eichel back...he doesn't have a killer instinct.

When he is a demand for the puck - and I don’t mean calling for it from teammates but that he is using his physical tools to take it away from the opposition - he is a force. We see that. It is the engagement and willingness to impose that is missing. Not sure if he can ever draw that forward to make it into an every night thing.

 

[Tatanka]

That take is smoking hot.

Run from this thread and don’t look back. Didn’t realize Jack was a slow average passer with average shot. Not to mention having all these demons the shrinks on the board are revealing. Run Chain Run!

 

[Buffaloed]

He needs to be selfish. He's trying too hard to be a playmaker. He needs to use his speed and go to the net. It seems like he spends half his time on the ice in a holding pattern waiting for his linemates so he can set them up. Take it to to the net and it will create plenty of opportunities for everyone.

 

[Intermission]

Jack Eichel is holding Jack Eichel back...he doesn't have a killer instinct.

That isn't really true.

And I know he hates the Leafs easily as much as everyone else.

 

[sufferer]

When he attacks with speed, he often curls back after crossing the offensive blueline unless he has clear lane to the net. He needs to go full throttle more often to at least make the defense respect him and back off a bit. He has the ability to slow the game down and make plays in close quarters but I don't think that's necessarily his strong suit.

 

[OkimLom]

Eichel needs another star center to take the pressure off...
But he didn't want him on the team.

wow, that’s been debunked.