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Eichel:" I've Never Really Been Received Well In Canada" |
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Ask Jack Eichel what he thinks and he will give you a candid answer.
Don't let his age or limited time served in the NHL fool you.
Eichel is a veteran hockey player trapped in an NHL sophomore's body.
All the world's a stage for Eichel, who has represented his country at several different international hockey tournaments. Eichel is making his fourth international appearance. He played for the United States in 2014 and 2015 at the IIHF World Junior Championship. He also played well for USA at the 2015 IIHF World Championship in Prague. Eichel and USA won the bronze medal at the 2015 Worlds where he scored two goals and seven points in 10 games.
Eichel was selected second overall by the Buffalo Sabres in first round at the 2015 NHL Draft.
Eichel was named to the 2015-16 NHL All-Rookie team. The New England native ranked second among rookies with 24 goals and 56 points.
On Sunday morning, Eichel told TSN that Team North America will have Toronto's home fans cheering for the Youngbloods during the preliminary round games at the World Cup. Eichel and Team North America will host Team Finland on Sunday night in prime time.
Playing in Buffalo, Eichel is used to the trips to a hostile work place in Toronto. Late last season, Eichel was forced to miss an appearance on Hockey Night in Canada when he contracted a nasty bout of the stomach flu. It was Eichel's only missed game of his remarkable NHL rookie season. Eichel was the only Sabres player to suffer the stomach bug though the entire team ate at the same steakhouse the night before.
Stomach flu? Food poisoning?
Inquiring minds want to know.
"For the most part, I've never really been received well in Canada," Eichel said.
"But it's the same in America, they're rooting for their home country. But to join nations here and play as one, you know, I imagine the crowd will probably receive us well. It feels like the people around here, in general, are pulling for us. That's a nice feeling."
Eichel anticipates a different reception in Toronto than he and his family experienced in Montreal when Eichel led Team USA into the World Junior Championships. Eichel said that he faced boos and jeers. However, he was bothered by the way his family were treated.
"My family taking a lot (of heat) off the ice, trying to walk around in the streets and things like that. I think it's a little dramatic when people start insulting your family."
As if it matters that Eichel's family members were wearing Team USA gear.
"I mean, I think my sister was, but how do you insult a girl, that's pretty pathetic," he said. "I don't know.. things like that. But, that's hockey and I guess you got to deal with that. The people are fine. It's just a few people. I mean, I don't even know. I just know my family members told me it wasn't a great experience for them. I don't expect it to be anything like that here with us representing the continent of North America."
Eichel better be ready for a steady barrage of boos and smack when he and the Sabres visit Montreal this season.
For now, Eichel will savor the moments of playing on the non-denominational squad of lightning fast, super skilled, hockey swashbucklers.
**
Alex Nylander's debut in a Buffalo Sabres was anything but a snipe show. The Sabres lost 6-3 to the New Devils in the Prospects Challenge on Saturday night.
Nylander finished the game with zero points, zero shots on goal and a crooked -3 rating.
That's the type of game a n NHL first round draft choice would like to have back.
Why was Nylander invisible in his Sabres debut?
Rochester Amerks head coach Dan Lambert is running the show for the Sabres at the Prospects Challenge. Lambert said Saturday night that Nylander failed to click with his linemates.
Nylander didn't really seem to click with his line mates. Personally, I think the kid had butterflies swimming around in his stomach for most of the night.
It happens.
When Nylander arrived to the HARBORCenter for work on Sunday morning, he was greeted with a present. Coach Lambert loved Nylander to center on a line with Hudson Fasching and Nicholas Baptiste, who scored all three of Buffalo's goals on Saturday night.
Sabres.com asked Nylander what went wrong in his Buffalo debut.
"I think I didn't play so well," he said. "We had a good practice today. We're looking to look good for tomorrow's game and we've just got to work harder and be better in all three zones."
Thanks, Sabres.com
Lambert sees Nylander's natural ability to honestly assess his game as a very positive attribute.
"He knows he can play better and I think that's the main thing," Lambert said. "As soon as you ask him the question, 'How do you think you were last night?' the answer wasn't, 'Oh, I thought I was great,' you know? So you know that he's accountable and that's a big thing for a young hockey player."
Nylander has played center ice in his hockey career. He has the speed, size, skill, and smarts to be a n excellent centerman.
Nylander's father Michael was a centerman with several NHL teams including the Washington Capitals. Alex Nylander had total access to such NHL stars as Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin while his father was their Caps teammate. Nylander has said that Nick Backstrom is a player that he likes to model his game after.
Lambert will give Nylander an opportunity to channel his inner Nicholas Backstrom on Monday night when the Sabres and Bruins lock swords.
"Playing center, he's certainly going to be forced and expected to skate a little more than he did last night. Hopefully we'll see that tomorrow."
The Sabres already have too many centers on the NHL roster right now ( ROR, Eichel, Reinhart, Ennis, Girgensons, Larsson) and they don't need another one.
However, Nylander could very well find himself as Rochester's #1 center when the AHL season begins in October.
***
How great was Day 1 of the World Cup of Hockey?
Who could have correctly predicted the dramatic and embarrassing face plant that Team USA performed in front of the hockey gods and the world?
What the hell was that?!!
Talk about brutal! Head sh*t disturber John Tortarella's team looked like a Division III NCAA hockey club against Jaro Halak and Team Europe. Torts sent a seismic hockey buzz through social media when he benched burly D/winger Dustin Byfuglien just ninety minutes before puck drop of the USA-Europe game, which was supposed to be a boat race victory for the Americans. What led to the Team USA meltdown? Terrible D-zone coverage, and sloppy, slow, uninspired play by their forwards sunk the Americans. Europe took advantage of a going-through-the-motions performance by the Yanks and made them pay for it with a 3-0 bludgeoning on center stage at The World Cup.
In my opinion, Tortarella should have never been named head coach of Team USA.
That honor should have been bestowed upon a more capable and deserving teachers such as Dan Bylsma or Todd Richards.
Tortarella should have resigned his position of head coach of Team USA during the first period intermission on Saturday.
Not a great look at all for Team USA who now have to defeat the mighty Canadians on Tuesday night or risk be run out of the Province of Ontario before the clock strikes midnight Wednesday morning. The odds are slim to none of Team USA beating the Canadians in their own barn. Patrick Kane and his boys won't be able to climb that mountain. The Canadians are too good a team to lower their guard and lose their focus against Team USA. Team Canada proved Saturday night against Team Czech Republic that they are in the driver's seat in this short format tourney. I say good luck to any team in this tourney that thinks that it can shut down and render useless the Canadian power trio of Brad Marchand-Sid Crosby-Patrice Bergeron. The two Bostonians and the Cole Harbor Kid spanked the Czechs mercilessly on Saturday night by smothering their D with an oppressive fore check that led to undisciplined turnovers which were promptly and skillfully deposited into Michal Neuvirth's net. When the freakery and pyrotechnics finally ended, Canada scored a 6-0 shutout victory over the Czechs, who to there credit battled hard for sixty minutes. The Czechs were no pushover squad. The score got out of control because Canada owned the puck for the majority fo the 60 minutes, and when it had scoring chances, Carey Price was more than up to the tasking of turning aside pucks to safe areas.
Mark my words:
Team Canada will not back down nor blink first to the red-faced Americans.
**
The great thing about today is that my Buffalo Bills cannot screw up my Sunday. The 0-2 Bills won't clutter an otherwise brilliant sports day. I'll be closing my swimming pool shortly. Then, I'll scan a couple of NFL games to see who is winning. Then I'll buckle in for Team Sweden vs. Russia later this afternoon. Dinner. Then its Team North America versus Team Finland.
I cannot wait to watch the best of the best young players in the world battle for international supremacy in this head-to-head, winner take world title tourney. You already know about the brilliant youngsters speedsters that populate Team North America's roster. Eichel, McDavid, Ekblad, Gaudreau, MacKinnon, Matthews, Larkin, RNH, Saad, Ghost, Jones , Murray, Gibson, et al.
I won't bore you with gratuitous talk of the obsene amount of horsepower and RPMs that the Youngbloods have under the hood of their vintage American muscle car. I've said it before, I'll say it again. I have never watched a hockey team play faster that this colletion of North American Chevy big blocks.
Seriously.
The ACC ushers should be handing out neck collars tonight at the gate to prevent fans from spraining their necks watching the lightning fast east-west flow of action.
All 12 forward s and all 6 D play fast, error free hockey. That is the trademark of Todd McLellan's U-24 gang. Young can't hit them because you can't catch them. If you give them loose pucks, time and space, they will dunk on you. It won't be pretty. Ask Team Europe about playing flat footed against Team Baba O'Reilly.
Talk about a Teenage Wasteland.
Like you, I love team North America. What's not to love about fast, physical, funky hockey?
Four years from now, this special collection of U-24s will be starring at the World Cup of Hockey for their own countries. For now, they play the underdog role as the kids sitting at the card table in the parlor on Christmas Eve while the adults eat dinner in the dining room.
These kids are alright.
However, Team North America isn't the only team at the World Cup Of Hockey with special young players.
Please. I caution you.
Do not make the same mistake that the Americans did and fall asleep on an opponent.
The Finns have their own brilliant constellation of young stars including Sasha Barkov, Rasmus Ristolainen, Patrik Laine, Mikael Granlund, Sebatian Aho, Teuvo Tearvainen, Jeri Lehtera, and Joonas Donskoi.
The Finns also have the best starting goaltending at this World Cup with Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask tending the bars.
The Finns are not a soft touch.
They have a loaded top nine forward group which will be right there with Team North America in terms of skating, scoring, creating defending, grinding and battling.
They also have grinding, pesky vets like Leo Komarov, Val Filppula, Jusi Jokinen, Mikko Koivu who like to stick opponents where the sun don't shine and get under their skin.
The Finns are not glamorous, nor pretty to watch.
They are deliberate. They are methodical. They are stubborn.They don't often blink first in international hockey competitions.
The Finns are taught at a young age to suck the oxygen out of the rink and to lull opponents to sleep with their at times stifling 1-3-1 trap.
In other words, the Finns are masters at taking what you love to do away from you. They re-route opponents and make them find new ways to score and to defend against them.
For lack of a better term, they are the boxer who forces it's right-handed opponent to fight southpaw to survive the fight. Flip the script and make the right handed brawler change his stance and start fighting left handed.
The Finns have become masters at playing head games with opponents. They mess with your head and then take advantage of the mistakes that you make.
I think Team North America's speed will allow them to break the trap. They will succeed if and when they get pucks deep and work the Finnish D.
The only weakness I see with the Finns is their blue line , which is young and inexperienced.
It's too bad the Finns can't play their number one D pair of Rasmus Ristolainen and Olli Maata for the full sixty minutes. Ristolainen, the Buffalo restricted free agent, is Finland's #1 D. Risto averaged 25 minutes TOI per game in the three World Cup exhibition games he played in. He collected a goal and two assists in those three games. He's big, fast, physical, fearless. He blocks shots and cleans Pekka Rinne's crease. Risto makes sn excellent first pass to the skilled forwards on the fly. Rarely if ever will hell break loose in the Finland end of the rink when Ristolainen is on the ice. Olli Maata who a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in June. He and Ristolainen compliment one another well because they skate so well and are able to join the rush when needed. They see the ice very similarly. Maata averaged 20 minutes TOI per game in the seven exhibition games that he played in. Maata is not prone to making mistakes with the puck in his zone and is able to activate the rush with strong first passes. Ristolainen (6'4”) and Maata (6'2”) are big and very athletic. They use their size to their advantage.
Frankly, when Ristolainen and Maata leave the ice, opponents have a time with the Finnish D corps.
Anaheim Ducks puck mover Sami Vatanen was -5 in three pre-tourney games. Opponents tend to expose Vatanen's lack of size and strength down low. Vatanen is 5'10” and 183 lbs. And he likes to lug the mail. He struggles when over-sized forwards set up camp in Rinne's slot/crease. His opartner Jyrki Jokipakka was -3 in pre-tourney games largely due to his propensity to give opponents too much time and space to create plays with. Finland's third pair consists of green horns Esa Lindell and Ville Pokka. Seventh D Ville Pokka will likely be activated for the Team North America tilt. Lepisto, 31, will be leaned on to assist Finn D coach Teppo Numminen as a coach on the ice. Lepisto isn't a play maker nor a scorer but he will block hots and will cross check enemy forward who dare to hack and whack at Rinne's catching glove.
TALE OF THE TAPE:
Scoring: Advantage North America
PP: Advantage North America
PK: Advantage Finland
Goaltending: Advantage Finland
Defense: Advantage North America
The tasty subplot to this movies will be the head to head battle of the #1 and #1 overall picks at the 2016 NHL Draft. I spoke with Patrik Laine at the Scouting Combine in Buffalo in early June. He told me that he was every bit as deserving of being the first overall pick as Auston Matthews was. It would not surprise me in the least if Laine takes a heavy run or two at Matthews early on just to get his team's adrenaline and endorphins popping.
I happen to agree with Laine. He is all that. He's only 18 years old but he is already built lie Jamie Benn and Alex Ovechkin. Laine is a 6'4" tower of power who doesn't even know his own strength yet. He has been throwing his weight around on the NHL sized ice for the past two weeks. I think he's gotten the hang of playing in the NHL sheet as opposed to the 200 by 100 that is the norm in European barns. Less one and space means more collisions for Laine to initiate.
What better time and place for Laine to remind the international hockey community and the Toronto Maple Leafs that he vehemently disagrees with the decision to select Auston Matthews first overall at the NHL Draft?
Would it surprise you if Laine submarined and otherwise absconded with Matthews' first ever game played on Toronto home ice?
Not me. Laine is a marksman and an assassin. He doesn't see himself as the consolation prize. In that way, he has a lot of Jack Eichel inside his competitive soul. Eichel doesn't concede to Connor McDavid. Laine won't accept second billing to Matthews.
To my eye, Laine and Eichel have a lot of Alex Ovechkin in them. While Matthews and McDavid have Sidney Crosby vibe to them.
The Ovi clones chirp opponents, drop clap bombs on them at will and make their life a living hell on the ice.
The Sid camp tends to have more of a finesse approach to the game.
It's a fascinating dichotomy how the second overall selection at the 2015 and 2016 NHL Drafts play with more fury and chest thumping then the first overall picks do. Its going to be a thrill to watch Eichel, McDavid, Laine and Matthews compete against one another for the next 15 years.
The future of the NHL is in great hands with these such great young talent taking the NHL by storm.
Steal the thunder is what Finland does to opponents in international hockey competitions.
I see Team North America's speed and skill being too much foe the Finns to handle for a full sixty minutes. I have the Youngbloods winning 4-2 tonight.
How about you?
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