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Eichel Is My Rookie Of the Year |
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All due respect to Archie Panarin, Shane Gostisbehere and Dylan Larkin.
Sorry, Connor McDavid.
You haven't played a full season due to injury, therefore, you don't qualify for my Calder Award.
Jack Eichel is my NHL rookie of the year.
Call me a homer. I don't care. I've been called worse.
Eichel has performed most consistently wire to wire this season. "Jack The Ripper" is the real deal.
Were it not for Panarin being 24 years old and riding shotgun for Pat Kane in Chitown, he'd be the man. He's not. Panarin played pro hockey in the KHL before he landed in Chicago's lap as a gift wrapped package. Panarin is a sand bagger in the Calder race. There, I said it. Disqualified.
"Ghost" is very intriguing to me as he has played just 60 games, however, has amassed, 16 goals and 27 assists. I like his game a lot. He's been a breath of fresh air for Philly. I need to see more of him.
Dylan Larkin has played 77 games and has scored 23 goals and 22 assists. I really like Larkin. He is my #2 pick. The Wings are on the verge of missing the Stanley Cup Playoff for the first time in 25 years. Larkin wasn't even born the last time the Red Wings missed the playoffs. I'm not blaming Larkin for Detroit's up and down season. I prefer to prop him up. The kid is sick. He can't carry that team on his back. He needs help.
Eichel is my winner of the 2016 NHL rookie of the year.
He's lived up to all the pre-draft hype. He has under promised and over delivered his leadership on the score sheet and in the room.
He's durable, driven, determined, smart, sickly skilled, relentless, and is always asking his coaches how he can improve his overall game.
Eichel has been a godsend in Buffalo.
He has dominated In all three zones.
In 79 games, he has scored 24 goals and chipped in 30 assists. The BU Terrier legend has 8 PPG and 5 game game winners. The majority of Eichel's goals have been s ored from 25+ feet away from the enemy goalie. Eichel has a bomb of a shot and goalies cannot track it off his stick.
Of all of Eichel's 24 goals and counting this season, I love this one the most. It's his empty net goal from Tuesday night's 3-1 win in Newark. Eichel, 19, out-worked, out-hustled, out-passioned, and outlasted Devils veteran D David Schlemko to win possession of the puck.
Perhaps Eichel's best attribute is his compete level. He hates to lose. He's a perfectionist and a high achiever. He hates failure. Hates it with the passion of 41 burning suns. Throw a puck in terms corner against one or two defenders and Eichel will find a way to win it and escape without getting hit. He's like a the if in the night. He works fast and efficiently. He doesn't make mistakes. By the time cops arrive he is long gone.
With dogged determination like Eichel's on this grimy, gritty goal, it's no wonder that the Buffalo Sabres have made a 25 point improvement in the NHL standings year to date. The Sabres finished their tank season with 54 points. They earned Eichel as the second overall pick in the NHL draft and the rest is history. With Eichel at the helm, the Sabres have become a much more skilled team to play against on a nightly basis. His world class passing, scoring, speed and vision make him a nightmare to play one on one against. Just ask Schlemko about Eichel's inner blast furnace of burning passion.
Ask Ryan O'Reilly what he thinks of Eichel's tape to tape passing.
Last summer, I wrote that the Sabres would finish this season with 83 points in the NHL standings. The reason I did so is because I knew that Eichel, O'Reilly, Samson Reinhart, Evander Kane, Rasmus Ristolainen and the rest of the Sabres would be leaders of the offense. I wasn't wrong.
The Sabres now have 79 points with two games to play. If they win all four remaining points, the Sabres will finish with 83 points.
Jack Eichel's fingerprints will be all over Buffalo's 28 point improvement. As a rookie. A rookie will lead his team out of the darkness and to the light of a dawn of a new day. A new chapter as it were.
For that, Jack Eichel deserves the rookie if the year.
Eichel had a goal and an assist against Joisey for his 12th multipoint game of his rookie season.
Eichel very well can still become the first rookie to lead the Sabres in goals since Ray Sheppard scored 38 goals in 1987-88.
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Connor McDavid will be playing for Team Canada in the upcoming IIHF World Championship tourney is Russia. This according TSN's Darren Dreger who reported this McNugget on the popular "Insider Trading" segment.
The report cited that McDavid will battle head to head against Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel and the projected first overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, Auston Matthews.
It makes perfect sense for McDavid to represent his country at The Worlds. He has played an abbreviated NHL rookie season. Earlier this season, McDavid missed 37 games due to a broken clavicle injury. In 43 games, McDavid has accumulated 45 points on 15 goals and 30 assists.
Canada can use McDavid's magic and he can use the extra playing time against some of the best players in the world. McDavid and other NHLers will likely use the World Championships as a training camp for the World Cup tourney that is scheduled for puck drop after Labor Day.
My sources tell me that Eichel will not be participating at the IIHF Worlds as he had in the spring of 2015. The reason is simple. Eichel will need to take a well deserved break after playing a 71 game NHL regular season. Come September, Eichel and McDavid will be the two focal points of the "Young Stars" squad at the newfangled World Cup tournament in Toronto. The Young Stars team will be comprised of the best players in North America (U.S and Canada) who are under the age of 23.
The World Championships tournament takes place during the same time period as the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs. Many of the best players in the world do not participate because of the NHL playoff schedule conflict, however, the best of the rest players in the world represent their countries.
For example, I can see several teams reaching out for Buffalo Savbres players. Team Canada should want to add Ryan O'Reilly, Samson Reinhart and Evander Kane. Finland will come calling for Rasmus Ristolainen. Team USA may invite Zach Bogosian and Jake McCabe.
I can see P.K. Subban, Taylor Hall from the Oilers, Boone Jenner from the Blue Jax, Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon from the Avs, Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett from the Flames getting an invite extended by Team Canada, too.
Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty, Jets Dustin Byfuglien, Blue Jax captain Nick Foligno, Leafs D Jake Gardiner and others will likely get the call from Team USA.
Sweden will want Ottawa capo Erik Karlsson.
Last spring, the 79th World Championship was held in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic, and was the most successful to date in terms of overall attendance. In the gold medal game, Canada defeated Russia to win their twenty-fifth title.
Dreger said Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly is expected to join McDavid on Team Canada at the Worlds.
Carolina Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters was named head coach of the Canadian squad at the tournament, which will take place May 6-22 in Russia.
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