As an 18 yr. old playing amongst men for the first time in his hockey career, prospect Jack Eichel has plenty to learn. Like speed. Being a gifted skater is one thing. Catching up to the speed of the game is a little bit different.
After two games at the IIHF World Championships in Prague, Eichel has yet to hit the scoresheet and has an even plus/minus rating while centering the third line between veteran Trevor Lewis and fellow collegian Jimmy Vesey. Team USA is 2-0 in the round-robin portion of the tournament thus far and has outscored their opponents--Finland and Norway--by a combined score of 7-2. Eichel logged 14:47 of ice-time vs. Finland and 18:12 against Norway yesterday.
Those Norway minutes are interesting in that Eichel spent 7:52 on the ice in the third period with the US clinging to a 2-1 lead and he was on the ice in the last minute. "This was a tough game," said Team USA head coach Todd Richards (CBJ,) "and we knew it would be. Our guys battled, and in the end, we were fortunate enough to come away with the win."
Norway jumped on the US early. "The first period Norway carried the play," Richards said. "They were faster, battled better than us. We were fortunate to get out." What they "got out of" was nothing more than a 1-0 deficit early in the first period with Lewis knotting the score at the 12:14 mark.
A couple of penalties late in the first period would put the US squad on their heels as Nick Bonino got called for high sticking at 14:31 and Eichel was sent to the box for hooking four minutes later. USA killed both of those penalties off and at 5:58 of the second period, Brock Nelson (NYI) would put the team up for good.
All-in-all Eichel has had a pretty solid first two games, with penalties being a sticking point right now. His high stick against Finland was more careless than egregious, but the hooking penalty and later a tripping penalty against Norway are penalties that can be avoided as he adjusts to the speed of the game and the bigger ice surface. The large ice and the amount of skating he does is more than at the college level so he's a bit winded as well. That should all even out as he learns the intricacies of the game at this level and adapts.
On the plus side, Eichel has shown that he can dominate. He put on a clinic in the offensive zone vs. Finland. During one shift he patiently waited for an opening in the Finn zone before ripping a snapshot labeled for the top right corner. 2015 Vezina finalist Pekka Rinne barely got a piece of that one with his glove. Seconds later Eichel handcuffed Rinne with a low wrist shot that produced a juicy rebound.
The lone goal against he was on the ice for vs. Finland didn't involve him as he had his man completely locked up from the wall all the way to the net.
Last night Eichel was in a grinding/NHL-style game where he was used a bit differently. "They jumped on us early," he said. "We knew it would be a tight checking game. It was a little more physical and chippy. They had some guys with some big open ice hits. It was a defensive battle."
Right now Eichel is showing some versatility, a strong two-way game and the ability to hold his own at the next level. Which is a good thing. I like what Richards said when asked about Eichel, “I’ll give you a far better assessment after the tournament.”
One would think that, for the most part, he likes what he's seen thus far.
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There are other players on the team worth noting but all of them like Lewis, Steve Moses, Dylan Larkin are locked up with teams. And although Matt Hendricks has been real strong the first two games of the tournament, at 34 yrs. old he's a bit long in the tooth.
One player that has jumped out early on is 5'10" 170 lb. forward Dan Sexton.
Sexton is a fast skater who has displayed the intensity of a player who desperately wants to say goodbye to the KHL and land in North America again. For the past two season he's been with his Russian team, Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. Last season he had 47 points (19+28) in 49 games for the "Petrochemists."
Sexton was an undrafted free agent signee by the Anaheim Ducks in 2009 who had success as a top-six forward at the lower levels. In the NHL he was used in a bottom-six role scoring 13 goals and 32 points in 88 games for Anaheim before the lockout hit and he found himself playing overseas.
Although he may be remembered more for his spectacular
dive back in Feburary, he's shown thus far in the tournament the he plays the game hard and fast which is something that could be of interest to Buffalo. Both the Sabres and the Rochester Americans will have some holes to fill next season.
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