On Jack Eichel’s Return To Buffalo On Thursday

2 years ago  /  Kuklas Korner

from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News,


So if you want to boo, you should be booing the Pegulas. Ineffective, distant ownership and bad management have rendered this franchise a shell of itself, leaving GM Kevyn Adams and coach Don Granato a massive lift to get things turned around.

Eichel gave us a lot of great moments. He's the franchise's all-time leader in overtime goals, and he's badly missed at 3-on-3 this season. He was eighth in the Hart Trophy balloting just two years ago – ahead of names such as Nikita Kucherov, Auston Matthews and Alex Ovechkin – and it seemed as though he was getting to the superstar level everyone hoped for at the 2015 draft.

He wanted to win here, but it never seemed like he was embraced. Within the organization, there were always some diva rumblings surrounding his interactions with staff. But with the media, he was always available, accountable and insightful.

Many a night when that locker room was empty after another terrible loss, Eichel would be in there alone – often still in most of his equipment – waiting for reporters who asked him to dissect the damage.


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