The first seven years of Jack Eichel’s NHL career didn’t go as planned. Losing. Neck surgeries. A highly-publicized rift with Buffalo that led to a trade. But after a long, turbulent climb, he reached hockey’s summit. JesseGranger_ has more.
in 2015, he entered the league as a teenager with the crushing weight of a franchise on his shoulders. There were plenty of spectacular goals and moments in Buffalo, but also a lot of losing, a lot of criticism heaved Eichel’s way, and a neck injury that ended his run as a Sabre before the team ever qualified for the playoffs.Following his neck surgery — which came after a trade to Vegas in Nov. 2021 — many people in the hockey world wondered if he’d ever be the same player again.
It was a lot of work, but it paid off. Eichel was a force in the postseason. He led the NHL with 26 points in 22 games, the third-most points by a player in his first playoff run in NHL history. He danced up the ice with the puck on his stick and bullied his way into dangerous areas to set teammates up for backdoor goals. He was equally tenacious without the puck, hounding the puck carrier with a physical, efficient backcheck.
Eichel always played well above his age group growing up, from the moment he stepped on the ice as a 4-year-old and wanted to play hockey with the older kids. When he reached eighth grade, all of his teammates started playing for their high school teams, and Eichel was too young. “There was one coach, who I won’t name, who said ‘Does he work hard? It just doesn’t look like he’s working hard when he’s skating,’” Masters recalled. “I laughed and told him it’s because his stride is so efficient. Even as a 14-year-old, he would take six or seven strides up ice but it doesn’t look like he’s working hard because the kid skates like a gazelle. He’s just graceful.”Those criticisms followed Eichel all the way to the NHL.
“One of the things that always strikes me about Jack is how high his poise threshold is,” he said. “Even under pressure, on the biggest stage in the world, that puck is on his stick a lot and something positive always happens. He just has a poise threshold that, to me, is amongst the best in the world.”
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