Is Jack Eichel a lazy superstar?
- Thread starter nobody
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He plays like a guy who was always by far the best player on his team, and usually by far the best player on the ice. Remember, he was the first freshman Hobey Baker winner since Paul Kariya, dominating NCAA hockey that is much improved from Kariya's era. He was probably never taught/asked/demanded to develop a sound defensive game.
Now he's in a league where he's not necessarily the best player on the ice, and his shortcomings have been exposed.
The bonehead play that produced Pittsburgh's overtime winner wasn't caused by laziness; Eichel was only a few feet from where he needed to be. That goal betrays to me a total lack of defensive awareness, an ignorance of the fact that the guy with the puck isn't necessarily the greatest threat to score - even when it happens to be Sidney Crosby.
What Jack needs, imho, is some "tough love" - a coach who will take him off the PP, move him down from the top-6, staple his ass to the bench, even healthy scratch him if necessary, until he starts playing responsibly in all facets of the game. Bylsma wasn't that guy, and Housley shows no signs of doing what's necessary either.
It's a shame. Nobody is demanding that this kid be the player he can be. The Sabres will realize a paltry return on their $80 million investment if this situation isn't straightened out soon.
Now he's in a league where he's not necessarily the best player on the ice, and his shortcomings have been exposed.
The bonehead play that produced Pittsburgh's overtime winner wasn't caused by laziness; Eichel was only a few feet from where he needed to be. That goal betrays to me a total lack of defensive awareness, an ignorance of the fact that the guy with the puck isn't necessarily the greatest threat to score - even when it happens to be Sidney Crosby.
What Jack needs, imho, is some "tough love" - a coach who will take him off the PP, move him down from the top-6, staple his ass to the bench, even healthy scratch him if necessary, until he starts playing responsibly in all facets of the game. Bylsma wasn't that guy, and Housley shows no signs of doing what's necessary either.
It's a shame. Nobody is demanding that this kid be the player he can be. The Sabres will realize a paltry return on their $80 million investment if this situation isn't straightened out soon.
Dr Black
Registered User
- Oct 31, 2015
- 482
- 368
Right from the start, Jack Eichel was at a disadvantage, being in the unenviable position of being drafted second to Connor McDavid. The underlying sentiment among a good percentage of Buffalo fans and in particular, then GM Tim Murray was " He is OK, but we really want the other guy (Conner Mcdavid)"
This put Jack in a position that anything short of excellence all the time is a disappointment. That any struggles he may have (like the last 8 games) would be magnified. Add to that a 10 million a year contract and this young guy has a lot of pressure on him. Which up until now, he has performed well under. His recent slump is just too pronounced for people to ignore. For instance, the game in Detroit he seemed invisible out there. That type of performance just cannot be repeated very many more times.
This put Jack in a position that anything short of excellence all the time is a disappointment. That any struggles he may have (like the last 8 games) would be magnified. Add to that a 10 million a year contract and this young guy has a lot of pressure on him. Which up until now, he has performed well under. His recent slump is just too pronounced for people to ignore. For instance, the game in Detroit he seemed invisible out there. That type of performance just cannot be repeated very many more times.
Jyrki Lumme
Generational User
- Mar 5, 2014
- 2,782
- 794
I feel like if you need to scratch a player who you just signed for 10 million dollars a year, blame should be going towards management more than coaching.
Jyrki Lumme
Generational User
- Mar 5, 2014
- 2,782
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If your team just signed a player worse than Ryan O'Reilly for 80 million over 8 years, I would be looking for another team.
Aladyyn
they praying for the death of a rockstar
So Laine is not that good, Eichel is a lazy superstar, and Edmonton missing the playoffs hurts McDavid's legacy. Am I missing anything?
Rangediddy
The puck was in
- Oct 28, 2011
- 3,710
- 809
What has Eichel done exactly to be considered anything even close to a superstar?
Asking as a western conference fan that really hasn't seen him play much.
Asking as a western conference fan that really hasn't seen him play much.
Laineux
Registered User
- Aug 1, 2011
- 5,267
- 2,826
He definitely looks like a superstar.
His skating and puck skills are rivalled by less than a dozen players in the league.
So far, he hasn't had any actual results that would indicate he's a superstar though.
Eternal Leaf
Registered User
Definitely has superstar potential.
Whether he's actually living up to it is debatable for now but the skillset is undeniable. Not many players can dream of doing the stuff he does offensively.
But he has to put it all together otherwise Buffalo is going nowhere.
Kamiccolo
Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.
Yep. He is so frustrating to watch. He does these little plays and you are like "Holy shit" and then he follows it up with 3 or 4 stupid or lazy plays. If he just put in a consistent effort, I do believe he is as good as Matthews. Difference between the two right now is Matthews has a motor.
Future GOAT
Registered User
- Apr 4, 2017
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wildandwoolly
Scrappy Salad
oh man just watched the Leafs, and Matthews made a mistake that lead to a goal. Looks like he doesn't even care. Probably the laziest player in the game.
Future GOAT
Registered User
- Apr 4, 2017
- 3,549
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How dare you blaspheme the world's best two way defensive beast like that.
Martin Skoula
Registered User
- Oct 18, 2017
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Both goals were on the PP, I thought Matthews isn't good enough defensively to PK?
Was Pavel Datsyuk also not good enough? Or does Babcock have a philosophy on who he uses on the PK?
What a stupid comment.
Martin Skoula
Registered User
- Oct 18, 2017
- 11,907
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It's ok friend, I'm on your side. Just pointing out how obvious it is that the guy calling Matthews out for causing a goal against was wrong.
Eichel is going through this weird phase where he wants to be like a discount version of Joe Thornton. Instead of using his speed and strength to drive to the net, or his great shot, he’s trying to slow the play down. He gains the blue line and stops skating to draw defenders to him. Then he tries to thread a perfect pass to a streaking winger. It works like 20% of the time. The other 80% of the time he gets stripped trying to stick handle or his pass gets intercepted.
It’s really annoying and a decent coach would tell him to cut that crap out (or at least do it less).
Also, the Sabres are so bad it’s depressing. Kind of hard to judge him in that environment. And to the poster on the first page that said he wasn’t playing with AHLers, we are playing like 4 AHL caliber defenseman.
It’s really annoying and a decent coach would tell him to cut that crap out (or at least do it less).
Also, the Sabres are so bad it’s depressing. Kind of hard to judge him in that environment. And to the poster on the first page that said he wasn’t playing with AHLers, we are playing like 4 AHL caliber defenseman.
OK, so I was told Eichel got demoted to the 3rd line tonight. Pretty weird that he led all forwards on the ice in TOI tonight with 20:54 (ES TOI = 16:50).
I definitely think he could play with more consistent intensity, and he's turning the puck over too much for my taste. On the other hand, he's shown some improvement in the D-zone this season (definitely not every game though), and he's still at 17 points in 21 games on a terrible team, so I'm not panicking. I think he should be using his speed and shot more to score more goals instead of looking for pass every time, and he should be a little over point per game, but I'm confident he will find his next level as he continues to mature.
I definitely think he could play with more consistent intensity, and he's turning the puck over too much for my taste. On the other hand, he's shown some improvement in the D-zone this season (definitely not every game though), and he's still at 17 points in 21 games on a terrible team, so I'm not panicking. I think he should be using his speed and shot more to score more goals instead of looking for pass every time, and he should be a little over point per game, but I'm confident he will find his next level as he continues to mature.
Snippit
Registered User
- Dec 5, 2012
- 16,631
- 9,961
Good analysis.
I think he literally needs to start trying harder on the ice and he'll start to look better.
Rasmus CacOlainen
The end of the Tank
Paid 10 mil to float defensively and slow the game down (in todays NHL) offensively. We got ourselves a deal. Some were ready to pay him 11.5mil per. WHAT?
Aladyyn
they praying for the death of a rockstar
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