Jack Eichel Poised to Form Cornerstone of Sabres in Rebuild

The draft lottery drama ended on April 17th with the Buffalo Sabres being awarded the second pick in the upcoming NHL Entry draft to be held on June 26th and 27th in the BB&T Center in Sunrise Florida. As the NHL's last place team, the Sabres had the best percentage odds of winning the first pick in the lottery at 20% and an 80% chance of picking second. So essentially the team that tanked for two seasons in the so-called “McEichel” sweepstakes was really tanking for Jack Eichel, the second ranked player to Connor MacDavid and the player four times as likely to be drafted by Buffalo than MacDavid (80% = 20% x 4).

Regardless of this logic the Sabres brass were clearly disappointed in the lottery results, with Sabres President Ted Black wisely refusing to comment immediately following the proceedings. Sabres GM Tim Murray was less reluctant, although he stated that he came to the draft fully expecting to pick second, his later comments suggested a different set of expectations, “Anytime you can get one versus two in any walk of life, you're going to want one. But we came up here with an expectation we'd probably be picking number two and we're going to deal with it. There's no issue there.”

Murray further expressed his disappointment with the draft lottery saying that the worst team should get the first pick. This of course is contrary to the leagues policy which is designed to minimize the incentive for teams to purposefully finish in last place to enhance their draft position. Murray's objection to this established procedure seemed to reveal his true feelings.

And why shouldn't he feel this way? While both players are described as generational talents, MacDavid looks to be the superior talent and looms as the new “Face of the NHL” while Jack Eichel will likely “only” become a great player.

MacDavid has been described as combining the best elements of the greatest players in NHL history, he skates like Bobby Orr, handles the puck like Mario Lemieux and sees the ice like Wayne Gretzky said Hockey Hall of Fame member Dale Hawerchuk who coaches the Barrie Colts of the OHL against MacDavid's Erie Otters.

But Eichel would likely be the number one pick in any draft over the past decade. He is described as a franchise player who passes like Adam Oates and shoots like Alex Ovechkin. His style has been compared to a speedier version of Ryan Getzlaf.

He was born in North Chelmsford MA, yes that's Bruins territory. Having been compared to each other relentlessly for the last two years, it's interesting to note that Eichel and MacDavid first played against each other in the Can Am pee wee tournament in Detroit where Eichel played for Boston Mission and MacDavid for York Simcoe. MacDavid scored a hat-trick as his team defeated Eichel's.

Eichel's development was uncharacteristic for a New England player. Instead of the traditional route playing prep school hockey, he chose the Canadian model of junior hockey which develops players by pitting talented youngsters against older stronger competition. At age 13 and standing 5'9” weighing 155 lbs, Eichel began playing for the Boston Jr. Bruins against players as old as 18 and 19 and scored a respectable 15 goals and 36 points in 40 games. In his second season he arrived as a major prospect scoring 39 goals and 86 points in 36 games.

With a late year birth date of October 26th, Eichel defies the normal convention where late year players suffer stunted development because they are always competing against players in their age group who by virtue of being born earlier in the calender year are more developed physically. This is a significant advantage when young children at age five and six are organized into age groups for youth sports, some children having a 15-20% older than the younger participants.

Eichel then moved on to USA Hockey's hothouse development program in Ann Arbor MI where he played for the U17 and U18 teams. These teams played against older players where they would be challenged physically. In his second season he tallied 87 points in 53 games, the fourth highest total in program history behind Patrick Kane, Phil Kessel and Andy Hilbert. Eichel's records is more impressive considering that the US team now plays in the USHL a tier I league playing much tougher competition than Kane and Kessel faced when the team played in the tier II NAHL.

One scout had this to say about Eichel, “While the US NTDP has produced numerous elite prospects in recent years, Eichel could be a true NHL superstar, and the best prospect to come out of that program to date. He looks the part of the future top line centre that the Americans have lacked to pair with their top level wingers in the last two Olympics.”

Getting Over Connor MacDavid Won't Be So Hard

Considering the high probability of drafting second, the Sabres benefit with Edmonton winning the lottery. If MacDavid ended up with another Eastern Conference team, he eventually would have stood in the way as the rebuilt Sabres attempt to qualify for the playoffs. With Edmonton, MacDavid will become almost a forgotten man in Buffalo. The Sabres rarely play the Oilers and Sabres fans would rarely stay up past 11PM to watch Oilers games on TV. The only way MacDavid would meet the Sabres in the playoffs would be in the Stanley Cup finals when the Western Conference and Eastern Conference champions meet. The likely hood of the Sabres and Oilers meeting in the finals anytime soon is minimal. So for the Sabres, having MacDavid play in Edmonton rather than Toronto or New Jersey is good fortune.

The big losers in the draft lottery were Connor MacDavid and the NHL. The stoic look on MacDavid's face upon realizing that Edmonton would no doubt be calling his name on draft day did little to hide his feelings. And the looks on the faces of NHL Commissioner Gary Betman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly were described in media outlets as “Horrific.”

On the bright side for the NHL, the results of this years draft lottery have put to rest any notion that the league somehow “fixes” the results. The last thing the NHL wants is for their next superstar to be playing for Edmonton where the team has been locked in despair for years for a variety of reasons. Furthermore, the new face of the league playing in Canada will do little if anything to enhance the NHL's growth in the U.S.

The leagues broadcast partner, NBC will reap minimal benefit from showing MacDavid on it's marquee Sunday afternoon games or it's weeknight cable games. Edmonton's home games do not generate a U.S. TV rating and are on too late at night for the east coast time zone. Compare that to the leagues current poster boy Sidney Crosby who plays in the fan and ratings friendly Eastern time zone and is a regular feature on the game of the week and the leagues marquee broadcast of The Winter Classic.