I LOVED Jack Eichel's closing comments from locker clean out day. The face of the franchise was direct, succinct and totally transparent. Like he did all season long, Eichel led from the front of the line.
Having just completed his third NHL season, Eichel said he doesn't have much to hang his hat on other than losing. He said the buck stops with him.
"It's tough, really hard. It's frustrating," said Eichel. "You kind of look back and it feels like yesterday I started here and to be three years into my career and yet to really make the impact that I'd like is frustrating for sure. We need to find a way as an organization, as a group inside this room to get out of whatever rut this is. It's tough. It's a lot easier said than done. If we talked 10 months ago, obviously I don't think I'd be standing in this position."
Eichel should have had the "C" sewn on his sweater last summer. When that didn't happen, the Sabres leadership group, of which Eichel is a part of, shared the responsibility of guiding the team through good times and bad. In hindsight, I think it was a huge mistake to not name Eichel captain before teh 2017-18 reguar season. The team had just signed him to an eight-year, $80 million contract. Will Eichel wear the "C" in 2018-19? I say hell yes he will.
"There needs to be change," Eichel said Monday morning. "Everybody obviously needs to look at themselves and figure out what they're doing and change it. Myself, whatever I've been doing hasn't been working. What we've been doing as a team hasn't been working. All you can really do is focus on yourself and changing yourself and I think that's what helps change the culture and change the team. It starts every day at practice"
Eichel cleared his throat and delivered my favorite quote from Sabres locker clean out day when he said:
"We have to communicate a message to our fans, our organization, our city that as bad as things were, we're going to change," Eichel said. "We're going to change things around here. It starts with the guys in the room. It starts with me. It's been a tough three years but I'm fully invested in this team, this organization, this city. I'm here for a while and I'm excited about it. I'm excited about the future. Things will get better."
Bang on, Jack.
Let's review your exquisite body of work from the 2017-18 season from hell.
Eichel became the ninth unique player in Sabres franchise history to lead the team or tie for the
team lead in goals, assists and points.
Eichel was the first to do so since Thomas Vanek accomplished the feat in 2012-13 and at 21 years of age, he was the youngest player to do so since Pierre Turgeon in 1989-90.
Four players have led (or tied to lead) the Sabres in all three categories twice in their careers:
Gilbert Perreault (1976-77 and 1977-78)
Pierre Turgeon (1988-89 and 1989-90)
Miro Satan (2001-02 and 2002-03)
Thomas Vanek (2010-11 and 2012-13).
With his 25th goal of the season on March 29 vs. Detroit, Eichel became the first Sabre aged 21 or younger to reach the 25-goal mark since Pierre Turgeon did so in the 1990-91 season.
Eichel also set a new career high with
.96 points per game this season. It was the team’s highest points-per-game mark among players with at least 10 games played since Thomas Vanek logged 1.08 points per game in 38 games in 2012-13.
Eichel’s .58 assist per game game ranked as the team’s best rate (minimum of 10 games played) since Derek Roy had .71 assists per game in 35 games in 2010-11.
Eichel (21 years old) and Sam Reinhart (22 years old) became the first pair of 25-goal scorers under 23 years of age for the Sabres since Alexander Mogilny and Donald Audette each exceeded 25 goals scored as 22-year-olds in the 1991-92 season.
Eichel finished the season ranked ninth in the NHL with 1.09 points per game on the road (38 points in 35 games). It was the highest road scoring rate by a Sabre since Thomas Vanek recorded 23 points in 20 road games (1.15) in 2012-13 and the highest in a full season since Daniel Briere recorded 48 points in 39 road games (1.23) in 2006-07.
Of Eichel’s 64 points this season, 27 were goals or primary assists recorded during 5-on-5 play (excludes 6-on-5 situations). This topped his previous career-best total from his 81-game rookie season (24) by three in 14 fewer games.
Despite missing 15 games with a high-ankle sprain, Eichel has topped his previous personal bests in goals (24), assists (33) and points (57) on the strength of improved production at even strength.
Thanks, Sabres.com
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Ryan O’Reilly just completed his third season with the Buffalo Sabres. It was one of the most grueling grinds of his nine year NHL.
The Sabres suffered their worst season in the forty seven year history of the Sabres franchise. O'Reilly admitted the losing acted as an unwanted guest that would not leave the Buffalo room.
"We're stuck in this mindset of just being okay with losing," O'Reilly said at locker clean out day. "I feel it, too. I think it's really crept into myself. Over the course of the year, I've lost myself a lot, where it's just kind of get through, just being OK with just not making a mistake. That's not winning hockey at all, and it's crept into all of our games.
"It's disappointing. It's sad. I feel throughout the year I've lost the love of the game multiple times. You need to get back to it because it's just eating myself up and eats the other guys, too. It's just eating us up, and it's tough."
Losing sucks.
In 224 games played for the Sabres, O'Reilly has scored 65 goals and added 111 assists for 176 points.
This past season, O'Reilly scpopred 24 goals (15 PPG) and 37 assists.
If you congratulate O'Reilly on his third straight 20-goal season in Buffalo after six outstanding seasons with the Colorado Avalanche and he will look you in the eye, pause and tell you:
"I didn't do anything. I could have been better".
O'Reilly isn't one to pump his own tires. He won't allow you to praise him either.
O'Reilly isn't a me-me-me guy. It's not in his DNA to break his arm patting himslef on his own back. He's The Factor, the guy who pats his teammates on the back when they are slumping or in a funk. O'Reilly is a glass-half-full guy. Always has been, always will be. That is how his parents raised him. He's humble as the day is long. He will not give himself any praise. What he will give himself is self-criticism.
On Monday, O'Reilly opened his heart for the world to see. Raw, tired, mad, dejected, O'Reilly spoke from the heart about his own performance for the 31st place Buffalo Sabres this season.
Bottomline:
O'Reilly said he just wasn't good enough.
In fact, he said there were times where he lost his love for the game of hockey in 2017-18. Losing has a way of eating a pro athlete alive, from the inside out. O'Reilly is sick of losing. He came to Buffalo to be a leader and a winner. Three years into his Sabres career, he is still wanting more from himself.
O'Reilly led the NHL and set a career high with a faceoff win percentage of 60 percent.
The guy continually busted his back, literally and figuratively, by winning six of every ten draws he took. Even when he was exhausted and feeling low, he still dominated at the dot.
That is downright remarkable that in a season as long as the NHL's seven month marathon, O'Reilly had the fortitude, endurance and will to win 60% of his draws says a lot about the man. He doesn't shy away from the tough battles against the NHL's best centerman Sid Crosby, Geno Malkin, Patrice Bergeron, Anze Kopitar, Claude Giroux and other elite pivots.
O’Reilly also led the NHL in faceoffs won, beatinf Stanley Cup champion Rod Brind’Amour (1,268 in 2005-06) to set an NHL record for the most by any NHL player in a season.
O'Reilly's 954 wins at even strength shattered the previous single-season record (Brind’Amour, 870 in 2001-02).
O’Reilly became just the third player ever to win at least 1,000 faceoffs in a season while maintaining a faceoff percentage of at least 59 percent, joining Brind’Amour (five times) and Patrice Bergeron (two times).
The 2017-18 season was by far ROR's best campaign by a Sabres center since the NHL began publishing faceoff win percentages during the 1997-98 season:
Ryan O’Reilly – 60.0% (2017-18)
Paul Gaustad – 59.8% (2010-11)
Chris Gratton – 58.9% (2002-03)
Chris Drury – 58.8% (2006-07)
Ryan O’Reilly – 58.0% (2016-17)
Is O'Reilly happy about this accomplishment? No. He thinks he can be better for his team.
One wonders, how much better?
After the players said their peace to the media, Phil Houlsey spoke about the nightmare that was his first NHL season as head coach. He vowed to be better next season. Housley said he and his coaches have to do their own self evaluations to see where they will need to improve going forward. Housley was asked to assess O'Reilly's comments about losing his love for their game at times this season. Houlsey had nothing but support for O'Reilly. I really appreciated the way that Houlsey picked his guy up and dusted him off. Housley told media and fans to look at O'Reilly's impressive body of work before judging him negatively.
Housley also said that losing comes with a price. The Sabres head coach said he thinks O'Reilly's reacting to the incessant losing rather than throwing in the towel on his NHL career. In other words, losing sucks. It makes you feel like garbage. It hurts when you don't achieve the high expectations you set for yourself. Failure is a nasty affliction to shake. It takes time. Housley believes in O'Reilly and says he will be just fine in the short and long term. Nothing O'Reilly said on Monday will be held against him by his teammates, coaches, or general manager. He's a thoughtful guy who chose to speak candidly and from the heart. Rather than vomit cliches all over the room, O'Reilly gave us all a glimpse into his soul to see his pain.
I respect Ryan O’Reilly as a hockey player and a man.
I’m confident that he will emerge a better player and leader for having endured three consecutive years of losing hockey in Buffalo. Better days are straight ahead. The pressure is real. Playing winning hockey for a losing team that seemingly is spinning bald tires on icy roads is not an easy task. The pressure grows when fans and some of the media constantly mention O'Reilly's 7-year, $52.5 million contract. In my opinion, O'Reilly has earned his money with his inspired play. His $7.5M AAV is not an issue for me. Don't hate the player. Hate the game. Former Sabres GM Tim Murray crafted the O'Reilly contract extension. He did so because he saw O'Reilly as a long term solution to what had ailed the Sabres. Were I Murray, I would have signed ROR to the same contract. He's been that valuable to the Sabres. He's an elite NHL centerman who plays an integral role in the future success of the Sabres. Jason Botterill loves having a center triumvirate of Eichel-Mittelstadt-O'Reilly. Botterill and Phil Houlsey are not disappointed with O'Reilly's contributions from this season from hell.
I see the Sabres as a playoff team in 2018-19.
“We’re stuck in this mindset of just being okay with losing,” a crestfallen O'Reilly said at his umpteenth locker clean out day. “I feel too, it has really crept into myself. Over the course of the year I lost myself a lot. Where it was just kind of get through, being okay with just not making a mistake, and that’s not winning hockey at all and it’s crept into all of our games. It’s disappointing. It’s sad.
“I feel throughout the year I’ve lost the love of the game multiple times and just need to get back to it because it’s eating myself up and eats the other guys up, too. It’s eating us up, it’s tough.”
Is O'Reilly fed up with the perpetual losing in Buffalo? Is he looking for a trade?
“No. I really want to be part of the solution here,” he said. “I love this city, I love it here, I call it home. There’s some good pieces, but it’s a big change I need to make mentally. I’ve said this so many times that I got to be a lot better and I sound like a broken record, but I’m going to stick with it, I’m going to keep trying.
“If something happens and I move, then obviously it’s a change they decide to make. But I want to win here, it’d be special here. It’s a great city, they deserve a winning team.”
There will be no time for O'Reilly to sit and ponder the failures of the Sabres. He won't be heading to the cottage for teh long summer. O'Reilly is committed to improving his own perfrmance and his own physical fitness. He's committed more than ever to improving his own contributions to the cause.
O'Reilly has agreed to play for Team Canada at the 2018 IIHF World Championships in Denmark.
“We all need to get better right away,” he said. “For a lot of us and myself, it’s getting time away from the game. For myself, I’m getting ready to go play overseas, I’m excited for that, it’s a great opportunity. It’s been a while since I had that kind of excitement in myself that it’s like I got a chance over here to go win something.
“It would be nice to get that back and hopefully I do and can carry that over into next year, that fresh, excited mindset.”
O'Reilly's comments got ne to thinking about R.E.M's iconic song "Losing My Religion":
Life is bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no I've said too much
I set it up
That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no I've said too much
I haven't said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try
Every whisper
Of every waking hour I'm
Choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool
Oh no I've said too much
I set it up
Consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip that brought me
To my knees failed
What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now I've said too much
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try
But that was just a dream
That was just a dream
O'Reilly will be okay. He just needed to vent his spleen after a long season that saw his team finish 31st overall with a disgusting overall record. In 82 games, Buffalo was 25-45-12 for 62 points.
Their .378 winning percentage has earned the Sabres the best odds of 18.5% to win the NHL Draft Lottery on April 28. If they win the lottery, the Sabres will select Swedish defenseman extraordinaire Rasmus Dahlin first overall at the NHL Draft in June.
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Housley promised a "harder" training camp for his player come September. So, the boys better get to work early and often. Houlsley "no more Mr. Nice Guy" demeanor was front and center as he spoke about the many mistakes his team made inside shifts that led to losses in game in 2017-18.
Don't be surprised when Housley makes changes to his Buffalo coaching staff.
I can see Housley reaching out to his friend and forner teammate Lindy Ruff for his help in turning the Sabres around. Ruff was hired last summer to be Alain Vigneault's assistant coach with the Blueshirts on Broadway. On Saturday night, Rangers GM Jeff Gorten fired Vigneauly along with assistant coaches Scott Arniel and Darryl Wiliams. Ruff was not fired though. Gorten said in his Monday presser that he will be speaking to Ruff about his plans moving forward. I see Ruff as a candidate to be interviewed for Vigneault's job, however, I don't see the Rangers hiring him as their new bench boss. Perhaps they interview Ruff and ask him to stay as an assistant to thee new head coach. However, the new head coach will want to hire his own coaches. Rangers AGM Chris Drury has an affinity for Ruff hving played for him during the Sabres glory days in Buffalo.
If he hasn't done so already, Houlsey shoud text or call Ruff to ask him to consider coming home to run the forwards ad to run Buffalo PP and PK. The Sabres were the #1 power play last season under Bob Woods, who left left to tae the same job with teh Minnesota Wild. This season, the Sabres PP was garbage. They were the sixth best road PP, however, were 27th on home ice. Ruff can infuse discipline, wisdome, knowledge and mentoring to veterans and prospects. Before you say Ruff only coaches veteran players, thunk back to the 2005-06 Sabres club which was loaded with young, high-skill prospects like Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek, Brian Campbell, Jason Pominville, Al Kotalik, Ryan Miller, Paul Gaustad and others. Ruff did a masterful job with that vintage of Sabres prospects. He also did a wonderful job developing the Dallas Stars youngsters Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, John Klingberg, Cody Eakin, Dominic Roussel, Esa Lindell, Radek Faksa, and others. Ruff's resume also contains gold medal wins as an assistant coach for Team Canada's 2014 Olympic gold medal team.
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Much more to come out of Sabreland....
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Ten Humboldt Brocos players and five others, including two coaches, and the bus driver were killed after the bus carrying them collided with a tractor-trailer late Friday in the Saskatchewan.
At least 13 other people were injured in the collision.
On Sunday night, as a vigil inside the home rink of the Humboldt Broncos was in progress, TSN 1290 Winnipeg personality Brian Munz asked his Twitter followers to place their personal hockey sticks on the front porches of their homes as a remembrance of the Broncos.
At 10:30 pm EDT Sunday night, I placed my two personal twigs on my front porch. I snapped a photo and tweeted it out before going to bed. When I awoke, I scrolled through my timeline and read dozens of notifications directluy related to leaving my hockey sticks on the porch for teh Humboldt Broncos.
Thank you to CNN's Gianluca Mezzofiore for including me in this story about the Humboldt Broncos tragedy and the international outpouring of support for the victims, survivors, and their respective families.
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So, the Vancouver Canucks failed to achieve their organizational goal of making the Western Conference playoffs.
The youth movement is in full effect now that Henrik and Daniel Sedin are retired.
On Monday, the Canucks players cleaned out their lockers and said their goodbyes for the summer.
Their owner Francesco Aquilini took to Twitter to apologize for his team's shortcomings. Aquilini also thanked his fans for their loyaly and support during the longer than expected rebuild in Van City.
Aquilini gave his young players, GM Jim Benning and head coach Travis Green a public vote of confidence.
Jim Benning now has $23 million in salary cap space for 2018-19. He also will be selecting a special player in the first round of the NHL Draft via a lottery pick.
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