Is Jack Eichel a lazy superstar?

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

If this is how much he scores being lazy, imagine how much he'd score if he had an average work ethic.

the concern is his effort in the defensive end

 

[joe dirte]

gone are the days sabres fans would claim he was better than mcdavid. then Matthews. he just disappoints in comparison to that level.

still a good player but slipping.

 

[Snippit]

Look at his ES production this year and his PP production this year. His ES production rate has gone up a lot

If the PP was half decent Eichel could easily be sitting in the top 5 scorers right now.

He's lazy when it comes to line changes which is annoying. He's inconsistent in terms of his engagement level in the defensive end.

I still think Eichel finishes with 85 points this year.

 

[karnige]

He's just a kid. Obviously gets frustrated and let's it show I'm his game. He will grow up.

 

[Semantics]

he isn't by virtue of being an NHL player- they don't make lazy

Tell that to anyone who watches Tyler Bozak or JVR every game.

"Lazy: unwilling to work or use energy"

You can try hard, yet still be lazy. I have no doubt these players are trying very hard. I think that they just don't have much hockey IQ on the defensive side of the game, thus they don't know when to engage the puck carrier and when not to, so they end up standing around a lot in order not to make a bad mistake.

 

[Semantics]

If Eichel was on a good team folks would be shouting his name from the rooftops because of how good he is

No they wouldn't. Mario Lemieux was on some good teams and a lot of people called him lazy.

 

[Semantics]

I mean, his career NHL P/G is .81 and Matthews is .9, and this despite Buffalo being a tire fire and Toronto being pretty damn good.

Toronto is pretty damn good because of Matthews.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Toronto is pretty damn good because of Matthews.

exactly. We're a far better team when he's in the lineup. it's a small sample size but it's like night and day. I don't see Eichel being that level of a difference maker yet

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

Nobody is going to mention how Eichel completely lost Sheary in OT last night to cost the Sabres the game? That was the definition of a lazy play and sums up Eichel quite well.

 

[34]

Not sure he is lazy but he certainly has a bad attitude.

 

[nobody]

I mean, his career NHL P/G is .81 and Matthews is .9, and this despite Buffalo being a tire fire and Toronto being pretty damn good.

Both Matthews and McDavid have had massive improvements from year 1 to year 2. McDavid took his team to the playoffs and Matthews is leading the charge for a young up and coming team that was a perpetual lottery team for years. Eichel arguably was in the best spot coming into the league. Yet, neither him nor his team has made the best of their situations.

 

[nobody]

Neither has Matthews to be fair.

I think Matthews has. Maybe not offensively but his overall play has improved significantly from year 1 to year 2 so far. His offensive numbers have increased (as expected) but his biggest improvement has been to the defensive game. He's arguably been one of the top defensive top 6 forwards in the league so far this year. Anyway, this thread isn't about Matthews.

I've been watching Jack for about 5-6 years now. My criticisms of him back in those days is the same issues I see now. He becomes disengaged from the game far too often for a player that I would expect to go 100% every shift. One thing I do like about him this year is his commitment to the defensive side. He has a long way to go still but I remember countless times last year he would cheat in the D-zone to get an offensive rush. This year he's settled down quite a bit but still gets lost in his Dzone coverage.

I had very high expectations for the kid and I honestly thought his game would've matured and grown by leaps and bounds over the years but he's 2+ years in to his NHL career posting a great PPG avg yet he hasn't managed to round out the rest of his game. At the very least I hope you'd be outscoring your own deficiencies if you're not willing to actively work on them.

 

[nobody]

Look at his ES production this year and his PP production this year. His ES production rate has gone up a lot

If the PP was half decent Eichel could easily be sitting in the top 5 scorers right now.

He's lazy when it comes to line changes which is annoying. He's inconsistent in terms of his engagement level in the defensive end.

I still think Eichel finishes with 85 points this year.

When are Sabres fans going to hold him to a higher standard? Does Jack Eichel playing a full year at his almost PPG pace get the Sabres into the playoffs last year? I always thought of ROR as being the Sabres best player because he's a complete 200 foot guy who wins FO and puts out 100% effort every shift. He also been good for 55-60 points every year.

Isn't that the standard of play Jack Eichel should be held to? If he's going to get paid like a top guy, shouldn't he be contributing more than ROR?

 

[nobody]

Not sure he is lazy but he certainly has a bad attitude.

I don't think he's got a bad attitude. The kid clearly wants to win and he wears his heart on his sleeves but his emotions off the ice don't match his efforts on the ice.

 

[Satire]

Not lazy, just easily tilted and frustrated. Sounds like a 20 year old to me. He reminds me a lot of Taylor Hall. I think he will be a great player he just needs to taste success and little bit and be put in the right atmosphere. Not sure that Buffalo is the right place for him.

 

[Snippit]

When are Sabres fans going to hold him to a higher standard? Does Jack Eichel playing a full year at his almost PPG pace get the Sabres into the playoffs last year? I always thought of ROR as being the Sabres best player because he's a complete 200 foot guy who wins FO and puts out 100% effort every shift. He also been good for 55-60 points every year.

Isn't that the standard of play Jack Eichel should be held to? If he's going to get paid like a top guy, shouldn't he be contributing more than ROR?

He's more important than ROR still because he's by far our best ES offence driver. He had a rough stretch of 4-5 games but he started off the year quite strong.

No Jack playing the extra 20 games last year still wouldn't be enough to get the Sabres into the playoffs. Buffalo's problems are many

 

[bottomofthefoodchain]

He is no superstar. No idea if he’s lazy or not.

 

[93LEAFS]

I think Eichel suffers from a couple things, some of which are on him and others that are slightly unfair.

Firstly, he is constantly measured against two other players who have arguably been the 2 D+1 and/or D+2 at the NHL level of any player since Crosby. If you measure him up against someone like Tavares, he is tracking fine. Now, due to McDavid winning the Hart at 19 and being a ppg in an injury-shortened rookie season, and Matthews finishing tied for 2nd in goals while being the first D+1 rookie to lead a previously last place team to the playoffs since the Sun-Belt expansion Eichel is constantly measured against guys who have simply achieved stuff we haven't seen from any other highly hyped teenage center in years. Even going pre-2004 lockout, look at the development curves of guys like Lecavalier and Joe Thornton. Eichel sort of has the misfortune of arriving at the same time as those 2 kids, as they are constant measuring sticks. If it wasn't for these two, Eichel would be talked about much more favorably with more positivity for what he is, than negativity for what he isn't.

The second issue is that Buffalo is a bit of a mess. When he got there, they were a team trying to go from outright tanking, to try to quickly rebuild. The issue with this is, while they added ROR to take some of the responsibility, they had no forward depth throughout the line-up. Due to this, and managing to win now, the team just handed Eichel a boatload of ice-time with limited repercussions for the bad habits you still see in his game. Slow changes, lack of effort on backchecks and making overly complicated high-risk plays instead of the simple ones went unchecked in regards to the leash being pulled in regards to the ice-time. I think the most he ever got was a temporary PP demotion. Now, Eichel is to blame for these habits, but Buffalo did him no favors by not doing more to show that they were unacceptable. At this point, they simply can't use those techniques to the same effect with him having already cashed in. It may have cost them more total points in the standings in 2014/15 and possibly Eichel some points, but it may have helped.

The final issue with Eichel is, I don't think he's an easy guy to gel with playing style wise, not all great players are (its been applied to Crosby multiple times). I believe this is why Eichel can sometimes run into trouble at short international events such as the World Cup of Hockey and the World Championships. It's probably rooted in how he chooses to slow down the game and how puck-dominant he is. In general, he may need similar players to Crosby to succeed, which is hard-working wingers with good IQ's who will win battles and get him the puck. Evander Kane while hard-working, definitely isn't a guy who is high-IQ or a guy who will willingly give up the puck.

If we were picking players to build around tomorrow, and you could choose anyone 22 and under to build around, Eichel is probably still my 3rd choice, even with his flaws and in no way slips past 4 (I'd have it in this order McDavid, and Matthews then Barkov or Eichel). Their is a lot wrong with Buffalo right now, and while Eichel contributes to issues with his occasional defensive gaffs and lack of effort, he is much more part of the solution than a problem. He's had some positives this year, most notably an improved scoring rate at 5v5 and being less PP dependent. Now, I can see why people were disappointed if they expected him to be the Malkin to McDavid's Crosby in regards to ability, but I still think he's among the most talented young centers to be drafted since Crosby, and looks on track to be a John Tavares level player.

 

[Finnished]

I hope teams learn not to give 10 million per year contracts to players in their 2nd year of ELC. Eichel had done nothing to deserve such contract.

 

[Snippit]

I hope teams learn not to give 10 million per year contracts to players in their 2nd year of ELC. Eichel had done nothing to deserve such contract.

If he's not worth it by this year, he'll be worth it by next year (when the actual deal kicks in)

The only line that's been producing on the Sabres this year has been whatever line Eichel has been on.

Seriously people last year were arguing that Eichel's point per game pace will drop because he had a high proportion of powerplay points. Now 1 out of 16 points thus far have come on the PP.

He's fine. He's probably going to finish top 10 in scoring once he starts racking up PP points at a higher rate

 

[Snippit]

Maybe he is just what you are seeing? I have not seen enough to tell and hi-lites on sportscenter don't show the whole picture. But I do have to ask, does he elevate the level of play of his team mates like Crosby (the current benchmark)? If the answer is no, well then I guess he is not as good some people thought. Although he has talked a big game

The answer is yes. At least, guys produce when they're on his line and don't produce when they're not on his line.

 

[Sabre Dance]

Eichel will demand a trade
Then Buffalo will be in big trouble

Yeah, Sabres may find themselves in last place going nowhere if Eichel demands a trade.

Eichel isn't going anywhere because no team would pay the price it would take for a $10 million a year headcase.

 

[MikeK]

I don't think he's lazy but I also don't think he inspires his teammates to elevate their game.. There is something about him that I can't quite put into words but he's not a leader or somebody others players rally behind.

 

[SmellOfVictory]

Toronto is pretty damn good because of Matthews.

Interesting. So Babcock, Rielly, Nylander and Marner have nothing to do with it?

 

[Bcap88]

Put him on a good team and then we’ll talk.

He's the one that re-signed with buffalol.....