Another season lost for the Buffalo Sabres and Jack Eichel is getting disgruntled.
Ever since a certain kick went “wide right” things haven’t gone right for Buffalo sports fan. Okay, maybe the Buffalo Sabres making the Stanley Cup final back in 1999 was a bright spot. That might have even ended in a Stanley Cup championship. Unfortunately Brett Hull’s skate had something to say about that.
Add Jack Eichel’s tenure as the latest in a list in Buffalo sports disappointment. The team famously tanked for either him or consensus first overall pick Connor McDavid in 2015. Of course McDavid was selected to take his talents to the Edmonton Oilers while Buffalo ended up with that was supposed to be the greatest consolation prize in NHL history.
Five years later, the Buffalo Sabres have absolutely nothing to show for it. They haven’t been anywhere close to the playoffs, and eventually got their first overall pick in Rasmus Dahlin. Three head coaches later and the 2020 season ends with disappointment once again.
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Eichel, understandably so, is frustrated by the situation. Eichel has voiced his displeasure before, most notably with former Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma, but his latest comments are reminiscent of another star player in the league.
Much like Eichel this player was stuck on a team in the middle of a long playoff drought that disappointed fans and players with high expectations for the franchise. This player was Taylor Hall.
After being the first overall pick in 2010, Hall was on a team that never got close to the playoffs. Even as first round picks came piling in, including McDavid, Hall never reached the postseason in an Oilers uniform. They got sort of close in McDavid’s rookie year before an injury to McDavid.
After being traded to the New Jersey Devils Hall opened up about his frustrations in Edmonton. For the most part they sound like Eichel’s complaints up in Buffalo. Hall seemed much less patient with his situation in Edmonton than Eichel is in New York, judging off how they explain their situations to the media. Maybe Eichel is finally reaching that point now in 2020 that Hall reached in the summer of 2015.
Let’s say for a moment the Sabres once again win the draft lottery. Let’s say that the Sabres select Alexis LaFreniere who comes with all the expectations. Let’s say that makes Eichel a bit more expendable. Okay “expendable” isn’t the right word for a player of Eichel’s caliber. Better way of phrasing it would be that Buffalo’s lack of success as a team mixed with Eichel’s displeasure in the situation make him tradeable.
If he follows the Hall path, a team could buy him for metaphorical pennies on the dollar. Even if Hall had limited success with the New Jersey Devils, the greener pastures of the Garden State did lead him to a Hart Trophy in their only playoff season.
The no movement clause in Eichel’s eight year contract doesn’t go into effect until the 2022-2023. The contract itself doesn’t expire until the end of the 2025-2026, so if a team trades for him, they’re getting him for the long haul.
The infamous Taylor Hall “one for one” trade took the NHL by storm. Even if Eichel said he wanted to find success in Buffalo, he might not be a lifelong Sabre. Remember when the New York Rangers signed Eichel’s former college coach in David Quinn to be their bench boss? Maybe a reunion between the two in the Big Apple can be in the future. Even if it’s not likely every season Eichel goes without a chance at the Stanley Cup those chances continue to increase.
One major difference in the Taylor Hall and Jack Eichel sagas is that by the time Hall went on the trade block, he was no longer Edmonton’s shiny new toy. Meanwhile Eichel remains the lone bright spot in a decade of failures for Sabres fans. He’s the most exciting thing to happen to the franchise since they won the President’s Trophy in the 2006-2007.
Does anyone expect Jack Eichel to get traded? Not necessarily, but no one expected Taylor Hall to get traded in the manner he did either. If he did get traded, would anyone really be surprised?