Buffalo Sabres Didn’t Need To Rush Eichel’s Captaincy

The Buffalo Sabres might have been a bit too eager to name Jack Eichel as their captain.

At a time when the new trend in the NHL is to go without a captain, the Buffalo Sabres needlessly chose to name Jack Eichel captain of the franchise. Seven teams across the NHL have chosen to begin the 2018-19 season without naming a captain. Every team has their own reason for choosing not to name a captain.

The Ottawa Senators, New York Rangers, and New York Islanders are total disasters, so naming a captain would likely be more of a burden than an honor.

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Meanwhile, the Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings are rebuilding but also just lost their well-respected captains in Henrik Sedin and Henrik Zetterberg. Both clubs feel it wouldn’t be fair to the new captain to be named so soon.

Then there’s the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights who are Stanley Cup contenders. Both clubs likely feature multiple captaincy options but instead choose a leadership committee over the single leader.

Then there are the Sabres, who are somewhere between total disaster and rebuilding and shouldn’t feel any need to name a captain. Instead, the franchise chose to name 21-year old Eichel as their captain. This despite the team finishing last in the Atlantic Division two of his three seasons, with the only exception being the year the team finished second to last.

Eichel hasn’t helped his team win games since he’s arrived in the league. It isn’t his fault as the franchise has been border line awful before and after his arrival. However, by placing the “C” on his chest and combining it with the eight-year, $80 million contract extension Eichel signed last summer, everything in Buffalo is about to become about Eichel.

The “C” will practically be a bullseye on the back of his jersey, as the combination of his captaincy and being the highest-paid player will place him front and center for scrutiny when the team inevitable struggles.

And the Sabres will struggle this season. The club hasn’t done anything to address their goaltending issues as they chose to sign a career backup in the offseason to be the team’s No. 1 option. The defense hasn’t improved either despite the arrival of Rasmus Dahlin.

Meanwhile, forwards Jeff Skinner and Jason Pominville are unrestricted free agents after this season and will likely make for candidates to be moved prior to the trade deadline. Vladimir Sobotka and Patrik Berglund are two players the St. Louis Blues are thrilled to no longer have eating up their salary cap. Kyle Okposo has battled injuries and hasn’t scored more than 45 points for Buffalo after signing a seven-year, $42 million contract in July of 2016.

The Sabres have limited depth and although there might some excitement surrounding rookies Dahlin and Casey Mittlestadt, its about all there is to be excited over in Buffalo. Therefore, placing the captaincy on Eichel when he’s entering a year where the team will no doubt struggle is grossly unfair to the player.

The pressure of living up to the massive contract extension will be more than enough and adding on the pressure of the captaincy was simply not needed. So many franchises today have chosen not to place that added pressure on a player and have turned not having a captain into routine behaviour around the league.

Had Buffalo looked around the league and realized what other teams were doing, they would have learned they could easily wait a year to name a captain. What’s wrong with allowing Eichel to continue to develop into a top tier center within the league while finally breaking the 70-point total?

Unfortunately for the Sabres, this is simply a matter of too much, too soon for a franchise desperate to keep their star player happy.