Because it's the latest proof that Matthews is on another level.
Eichel hasn't even scored 30 goals or gone ppg in 3 years and he's supposed to be better than Matthews? LOL, NO CHANCE.
Not a very convincing argument you have here considering:
You're saying people are claiming he's better then Matthews when no one has. You also claim he's on another level. Sure, he may not of hit 30G matching up against the league's best checkers/defenders (on its lowest scoring team) but he hasn't scored fewer then 24 either, with two of his three seasons were shortened by significant injury.
Your bragging about PPG when Matthews has done it only once in an injury shortened season. (Not when counting playoffs though) meanwhile Eichel came 4 pts, then 3 pts shy of doing it in the last two seasons that were also shortened by injury. So a matter of a few pts is worth bragging about? That's kind of odd. Just saying. If I was going to try and convince people "My teams star" was in a different realm then some else I wouldn't start by bragging about something where the difference was peanuts.
But why stop at goals? If one was being objective rather then biased you could also claim Eichel has hit 30 assists in every season he's ever played, 1 shy of 40 in just 67 games last year,
while Matthews hasn't done it once ever in his career. It's hard to put up 39 in 67 but doing that on a team that scored 198 goals is truly exceptional. If it were easy Auston would of done it on a top 5 scoring team, maybe once?
Could it be you just don't watch or like Eichel so you just won't want to look at these facts?
PPG since Matthews entered the league.
JE 0.94
AM 0.88 PPG
"ANOTHER LEVEL."
Why use the pre-season game for reference when they've went head to head for the last 2 years? Eichel has done more than fine in producing against Matthews' line.
Plus he still put up 2 points in that pre-season match and created several other chances...so yeah.
I know right? Why use this pre-season game when there's been nearly a dozen other games that mattered head to head. In this one, Matthews had better "Scoring chances", but it's funny to even reference this game because Eichel was doing something well offensively, almost every time I saw him out there. Skinner was the lone Sabres star because scoring that tap in goal looked extremely difficult. I bet you can guess who the first star of this game was? Not that stars mean much in the pre-season but it supports the argument made.
I almost can't blame some of these fans. If their not independent thinkers anyway. The portrayal of both men on Canadian media is VASTLY different. One is portrayed as a god among the gods and every shift he has he will do something incredible based on one of his ELITE skill-sets, the other wont get mentioned ever unless it's "Well he makes X amount of money he should be good". (Contract hasn't even kicked in yet but alright..)
I almost GET IT though. This outlook some fans have. Not sure if you watch on Sportsnet or MSG Snippit with were you live but listening to the Pro-Leafs Greg Millen and the like is comical. I can put up with the praise about Auston cause its mostly true.
Auston makes a decent move past the blue line, does his pull and drag shot. (Not a toe-drag or anything spectacular but a nice shot.) Millen on the replay "And LOOK at the skill here by Matthews, lets this one go, and OH Wow...look at the skill-level on that release, just WOW."
Then
"One thing we don't talk about enough with Matthews is his ability to take his speed to another level, like all the great stars in this league." (When Eichel can do this too and even faster, and even did just before this shift) Now that statement is FINE by itself, it's true and he doesen't have to say EIchel is fast. Not everything is comparison. HOWEVER.... he said this right before this gem.
"(Camera shows Eichel on the bench) ...Yeaaah, Jack Eichel, you know he's going to have to be better then just "pretty good" if he wants the Sabres to have any success this year. He needs to be a star for this team." See again, this isn't wrong. But you'd think Eichel a guy who has actually averaged more points per game then Matthews since the time he (Auston) entered the league has been better then just "pretty good"? Some fans hear this and they'll treat this like gospel, especially since it's what they want to believe.