Buffalo Sabres: Can Jack Eichel break his playoff drought in 2021?
Is this the year Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres make the playoffs?
When Jack Eichel takes the ice for the Buffalo Sabres, you know it’s going to be interesting.
Despite his age, the former second overall pick out of Boston University has rapidly become one of the most consistent offense centers in the NHL – averaging 27.4 goals, 40 assists, and 67.4 points over his first five professional seasons in the Queen City. Despite the 2019-20 season being limited to only 71 games, Eichel still set a new career-high in goals at 36 while only falling 12 assists and four points short of recording career-highs in those categories too.
And yet, those five fantastic seasons have largely been in vain, as Eichel has yet to taste the excitement of playoff hockey by a pretty considerable margin.
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Since making his debut in 2015, Eichel’s Sabres have yet to record a single winning season. Granted, they haven’t been too far off, as the Sabres finished out the 2015-16 season at 35-36-11 and finished out the abbreviated 2019-20 season at 30-31-8. Had a few more plays broken their way, or the season played out its full length in 2019-20, maybe Eichel’s personal drought – and the Sabres’ league-worst nine-season absence from the playoffs – would have ended earlier this year, but unfortunately, that just wasn’t meant to be.
No, it became abundantly clear that if Buffalo’s young core was going to make their NHL playoff debuts, they’d need a serious infusion of talent.
And, to new GM Kevyn Adams‘ credit, he made that happen.
With forwards Johan Larsson, Jimmy Vesey, and Wayne Simmonds all set to hit the open market as unrestricted free agents, Adams went all-in on targeting the top free agent wing on the market in Taylor Hall, who the team was able to woo away from Arizona on a one-year, $8 million deal (more on that here). By Hall’s own admission, the presence of Eichel played a huge part in his decision to sign with the Sabres, telling Buffalo Hockey Beat’s Bill Hoppe, “He’s an amazing hockey player. I think that he took a great step last year. Now it’s about can we find a way to get him in the playoffs and really produce on a stage that I feel that he deserves.”
To further fortify the team’s overall ceiling, Adams traded 2019 free agency addition Marcus Johansson for 36-year-old forward Eric Staal, a hard-hitting power forward who should surely fortify the team’s second line alongside the $72 million man, Jeff Skinner.
Fun Fact: Skinner and Staal shared the better part of a season together in Carolina and played very well together.
If Linus Ullmark can take a step forward and prove himself to even be an average full-time starting goaltender, the Sabres’ ceiling grows even higher still, though, based on Puck Prose’s Goalie Power Ranking heading into the 2020-21 season, that may not be as easy as one would hope.
If that doesn’t work, and the Anaheim Ducks falter considerably to start out the season, maybe Adams could further reshape the roster in his image with a blockbuster trade for 27-year-old goalie John Gibson.
Next. Resurgent Philadelphia Flyers can be the Kings of the East in 2020-21. dark
There’s no doubt about it; the Buffalo Sabres went star hunting this offseason like a kid playing NHL 21. Will it work? Only time will tell, but for Jack Eichel’s sake, let’s hope this is the year his team finally makes it out of the regular season if for no other reason than to see what the 24-year-old can do on the national stage.