Prospect Info: Jack Eichel (2015, 2nd) – '15-16: Buffalo #15 (NHL) – Part 1: And so it begins

[Chainshot]

Was that the year he contracted that flesh eating virus?

No, that was every year.

 

[1972]

I'm completely tired of this Eichel v. McDavid thing..

But, while McDavid is obviously totally elite offensively, his defensive game is not that talked about. And the reason is most likely that it is pretty much non-existent. The games I have watched supports the numbers. His GA/60 is almost 4.00, which is an extremely ugly number.

McDavid more than likely will improve defensively as well, but at this point his defensive game is horrible.

At this point who cares

 

[26CornerBlitz]

McDavid, Eichel Provide Memorable Night - Top picks live up to hype in first chapter of rivalry

by Dan Rosen @drosennhl/NHL.com Senior Writer

Down the ice went Buffalo Sabres rookie Jack Eichel, skating with the puck on his stick, weaving and spinning and unleashing a backhanded shot that to the naked eye missed the net by maybe a foot, maybe less, but just enough to eventually spring you know who the other way.

Connor McDavid got the puck off of Eichel's miss on the right-wing half wall and went and won the game for the Edmonton Oilers. He used his tantalizing speed to get down the ice in a hurry and a power move to the net that led to a perfect backhanded five-hole shot to give the Oilers a 2-1 win, capping the first chapter in what certainly looks like a rivalry in the making.

The future is here. And it's going to be awesome.

 

[Nibbler]

Connor McDavid got the puck off of Eichel's miss on the right-wing half wall and went and won the game for the Edmonton Oilers. He used his tantalizing speed to get down the ice in a hurry and a power move to the net that led to a perfect backhanded five-hole shot to give the Oilers a 2-1 win, capping the first chapter in what certainly looks like a rivalry in the making.

Poor play by Lehner.

I really wish phenoms would stop beating our goalies in overtime/shootouts 5-hole...

 

[cramdizzl]

Poor play by Lehner.

I really wish phenoms would stop beating our goalies in overtime/shootouts 5-hole...

Seriously, 2010 all over again.

 

[Ralonzo]

He used his tantalizing speed to get down the ice in a hurry and a power move to the net that led to a perfect backhanded five-hole shot

Power move? Perfect five-hole shot? Did I watch something different? Speed, ok, but it was a mediocre backhand from the perimeter from a trash angle that NHL goalies stop simply by not lifting their damn stick off the ice. FFS not everything 97 does is unprecedented in hockey history and unattainable by non-deities.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

Poor play by Lehner.

I really wish phenoms would stop beating our goalies in overtime/shootouts 5-hole...

Power move? Perfect five-hole shot? Did I watch something different? Speed, ok, but it was a mediocre backhand from the perimeter from a trash angle that NHL goalies stop simply by not lifting their damn stick off the ice. FFS not everything 97 does is unprecedented in hockey history and unattainable by non-deities.

Great speed no doubt, but a rather weak goal that should have been a routine save by Lehner.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I'm completely tired of this Eichel v. McDavid thing..

But, while McDavid is obviously totally elite offensively, his defensive game is not that talked about. And the reason is most likely that it is pretty much non-existent. The games I have watched supports the numbers. His GA/60 is almost 4.00, which is an extremely ugly number.

McDavid more than likely will improve defensively as well, but at this point his defensive game is horrible.

Two words, Eberle and Schultz. McDavid is pretty good defensively actually. Watching a bit of Eichel last night he is going to be a beast for you guys. Solid two way game at 19 and lots of skill. I said it before and I'll say it again, I'd have taken Eichel 1st OA over any player since Crosby sans McDavid.

 

[BananaSquad]

Trade Eichel and restart this thing all over again... God damnit kid, why are you not carrying us to the playoffs at 19!

 

[Wheatking]

Here's a positive Eichel article from about a week ago. I think perspective gets lost on how great of a rookie season he's having because McDavid is doing his thing.

Is Jack Eichel Meeting The Hype? Spoiler: Yes.
https://topcheesehockey.wordpress.com/2016/02/23/is-jack-eichel-meeting-the-hype/

 

[Taro Tsujimoto]

And to the surprise of no one, Eichel named to Team North America for the World Cup:

 

[BananaSquad]

And to the surprise of no one, Eichel named to Team North America for the World Cup:

Easily the worst player picked on that team. ......

 

[LaxSabre]

 

[tsujimoto74]

Easily the worst player picked on that team. ......

You can't be serious. (Can you? Really, this board's overreaction to last night's game has broken my sarcasm detector.)

 

[Yatzhee]

Jack will be fine.
McDavid is by far the better player AINEC. I say that well aware I projected Jack the better player early in their careers due to physicality and competition they played against. Clearly I was mistaken. McDavid is just what he is, the next great one. Eichel it remains to be seen what he will become yet.

 

[Sabresruletheschool]

This is going to go over like a fart in church but here it goes. Eichel scares me.

I was a huge Eichel supporter at the draft. I wrote many posts arguing on Eichels behalf. I believed Eichel was going to be a beast, and he is, sometimes.

Here's my thing. I see some black flags in his game. I see him quit when he gets frustrated, I see him not get involved in the game, alot. I see Reinhart with half the talent, play twice as hard and with twice the heart.

So now I'm worried he's going to be a Vanek type guy with more pure skill. A guy who every now and then shows a glimpse of greatness followed by tons of frustration. I'm wondering if it was pure talent that made him so great in college. But this is the NHL. Talent alone will get you somewhere. But I don't see the drive. I don't see the battle in his game. I see skill don't get me wrong, but I want more.

So am I wrong to feel this way? I also want to say this has nothing to do with McDavids crap goal in overtime the other night. I talk hockey with family and friends constantly, and I've been saying this same thing to them for the last 2 months. I know he's young and over cautious, I get that. And I don't expect him to play like Kaleta. But he has enough games to where he should be in the mix and battle along the boards, throw his shoulder into someone, fight for space in front of the net and just be a little tougher to play against.

Ok I'm done for now

 

[Jame]

This is going to go over like a fart in church but here it goes. Eichel scares me.

I was a huge Eichel supporter at the draft. I wrote many posts arguing on Eichels behalf. I believed Eichel was going to be a beast, and he is, sometimes.

Here's my thing. I see some black flags in his game. I see him quit when he gets frustrated, I see him not get involved in the game, alot. I see Reinhart with half the talent, play twice as hard and with twice the heart.

So now I'm worried he's going to be a Vanek type guy with more pure skill. A guy who every now and then shows a glimpse of greatness followed by tons of frustration. I'm wondering if it was pure talent that made him so great in college. But this is the NHL. Talent alone will get you somewhere. But I don't see the drive. I don't see the battle in his game. I see skill don't get me wrong, but I want more.

So am I wrong to feel this way? I also want to say this has nothing to do with McDavids crap goal in overtime the other night. I talk hockey with family and friends constantly, and I've been saying this same thing to them for the last 2 months. I know he's young and over cautious, I get that. And I don't expect him to play like Kaleta. But he has enough games to where he should be in the mix and battle along the boards, throw his shoulder into someone, fight for space in front of the net and just be a little tougher to play against.

Ok I'm done for now

I'm less worried about it (right now), but your observations of "lack of fire/compete" are accurate. Maybe "lack of" is the wrong way to describe. There's a hiccup, a pause, in his game when he's engaged, contacted, "paying the price". But he's a kid...

 

[Paxon]

I'm less worried about it (right now), but your observations of "lack of fire/compete" are accurate

Basically how I feel. He's still 19. There have been plenty of players who came in looking a lot like Jack in those regards who became noted for their intensity, drive, etc on the ice. Guys like Modano and Yzerman come to mind, though in Yzerman's case I'm going by what others say because he started a year before I was born. Of course, there are plenty who haven't, but I'm not particularly worried at the moment.

 

[WeDislikeEich]

This is going to go over like a fart in church but here it goes. Eichel scares me.

I was a huge Eichel supporter at the draft. I wrote many posts arguing on Eichels behalf. I believed Eichel was going to be a beast, and he is, sometimes.

Here's my thing. I see some black flags in his game. I see him quit when he gets frustrated, I see him not get involved in the game, alot. I see Reinhart with half the talent, play twice as hard and with twice the heart.

So now I'm worried he's going to be a Vanek type guy with more pure skill. A guy who every now and then shows a glimpse of greatness followed by tons of frustration. I'm wondering if it was pure talent that made him so great in college. But this is the NHL. Talent alone will get you somewhere. But I don't see the drive. I don't see the battle in his game. I see skill don't get me wrong, but I want more.

So am I wrong to feel this way? I also want to say this has nothing to do with McDavids crap goal in overtime the other night. I talk hockey with family and friends constantly, and I've been saying this same thing to them for the last 2 months. I know he's young and over cautious, I get that. And I don't expect him to play like Kaleta. But he has enough games to where he should be in the mix and battle along the boards, throw his shoulder into someone, fight for space in front of the net and just be a little tougher to play against.

Ok I'm done for now

I know what you are talking about, I see it too. But I don't think it's a lack of work ethic. Everything I have read and heard about Eichel says his drive and work ethic are the main reasons he's gotten as far as he has. Sounds like he has a very good work ethic. All the stories about how he'd spend every free minute growing up in the gym or on the ice. Even when he was in high school he was working out 5+ days a week. And from what I understand it has still been that way here. He spends a lot of extra time on the ice and in the gym etc. working on his game.
I think what we are seeing in the ice may just be him being a rookie in the best league in the world. I think he gets caught watching sometimes. This is understandable for a 19 yr old rookie in the NHL.
If this is still a problem a year or two from now, then I might start worrying. But for now, he has exceeded all my expectations for his rookie season.

 

[couture23]

This is going to go over like a fart in church but here it goes. Eichel scares me.

I was a huge Eichel supporter at the draft. I wrote many posts arguing on Eichels behalf. I believed Eichel was going to be a beast, and he is, sometimes.

Here's my thing. I see some black flags in his game. I see him quit when he gets frustrated, I see him not get involved in the game, alot. I see Reinhart with half the talent, play twice as hard and with twice the heart.

So now I'm worried he's going to be a Vanek type guy with more pure skill. A guy who every now and then shows a glimpse of greatness followed by tons of frustration. I'm wondering if it was pure talent that made him so great in college. But this is the NHL. Talent alone will get you somewhere. But I don't see the drive. I don't see the battle in his game. I see skill don't get me wrong, but I want more.

So am I wrong to feel this way? I also want to say this has nothing to do with McDavids crap goal in overtime the other night. I talk hockey with family and friends constantly, and I've been saying this same thing to them for the last 2 months. I know he's young and over cautious, I get that. And I don't expect him to play like Kaleta. But he has enough games to where he should be in the mix and battle along the boards, throw his shoulder into someone, fight for space in front of the net and just be a little tougher to play against.

Ok I'm done for now

I don't think you'll catch a lot of flack for this statement, at least not on this site. I think the general consensus is that Eichel's talent far exceeds his work ethic.

 

[Dingo44]

I think half the people in this thread could be the guy who called WGR and compared Jack to "the next Jody Gage".

 

[BananaSquad]

Rookie season!

 

[joshjull]

Seriously, 2010 all over again.

Slightly lower stakes I would say.

 

[RocSabres]

Anyone else feel that Eichel's lack of fire at times during the game, standing around watching rather than always skating and moving is on the coach, because I do. I blame Bylsma for this. He's gotta see it when watching tape, and see it if a play like i mentioned above leads to a goal when Eichel's on the ice. I blame coaching for letting the face of the franchise get away with this kind of stuff and not coaching him to stop doing this. I know for a fact a good coach like babcock or any other coach for that matter would be screaming from the bench telling jack to keep moving his feet. And this is something I fear with Bylsma, that he is coaching bad habits into the kids when they are first beginning their careers in the league.

 

[RoofIt5hole]

This is going to go over like a fart in church but here it goes. Eichel scares me.

I was a huge Eichel supporter at the draft. I wrote many posts arguing on Eichels behalf. I believed Eichel was going to be a beast, and he is, sometimes.

Here's my thing. I see some black flags in his game. I see him quit when he gets frustrated, I see him not get involved in the game, alot. I see Reinhart with half the talent, play twice as hard and with twice the heart.

So now I'm worried he's going to be a Vanek type guy with more pure skill. A guy who every now and then shows a glimpse of greatness followed by tons of frustration. I'm wondering if it was pure talent that made him so great in college. But this is the NHL. Talent alone will get you somewhere. But I don't see the drive. I don't see the battle in his game. I see skill don't get me wrong, but I want more.

So am I wrong to feel this way? I also want to say this has nothing to do with McDavids crap goal in overtime the other night. I talk hockey with family and friends constantly, and I've been saying this same thing to them for the last 2 months. I know he's young and over cautious, I get that. And I don't expect him to play like Kaleta. But he has enough games to where he should be in the mix and battle along the boards, throw his shoulder into someone, fight for space in front of the net and just be a little tougher to play against.

Ok I'm done for now

Yet another reason the ror addition was huge. I think ror will be a major positive influence on the young guys when it comes to work ethic and intensity.

While I understand your concerns, I don't yet feel it to be an issue.