Jack Eichel sticks it to his doubters with amazing quote just before training camp
A bonafide superstar in the league, Jack Eichel has received a lot of flak over the years, primarily for Buffalo's constant struggles while he was there, his decision to opt for a "riskier" surgery than the Sabres were comfortable with and how he forced his way out of Buffalo.
Being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights took a lot of work considering his lofty AAV, but it worked like gangbusters for both parties. The Sabres got out of that headache, received Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs to kickstart their rebuild, while the Knights got their 1C, which pushed them over the top in their Stanley Cup run.
In 6 seasons with Buffalo, the former 2nd overall pick scored 139 goals and 355 points in 375 games. In parts of 2 seasons in Vegas, he has 41 goals and 91 points in 101 games and in his only playoff run, Eichel added 6 goals and 26 points in 22 games - pacing the club in assists, points, and ATOI amongst forwards.
He knows what was being said and it felt that much better for him to not only get his first taste of playoff hockey but to be able to go all the way and come back with some serious hardware:
"If I were going to sit here and tell you it didn't feel good to shut a lot of people up or prove them wrong, I'd be lying," Eichel said. "It was a great opportunity for our team to do that. A lot of people wrote us off last year coming into the season having not made the playoffs the year before. And even going through the playoffs, it feels like everyone was kind of siding with every team we played against. We heard it as a group and we understood there wasn't a whole lot of respect for our team. And we used it as fire and motivation. Having gone through some of the stuff and all the criticism and people attacking me and my character, I think it a was nice feeling to try and change that narrative."
I'm sure we've all been in a situation at one point or another in our lives where someone said "you can't", and I'm sure it felt good when you succeeded in spite of that doubt. For Eichel, I'm sure that he's happy to have accomplished his lifelong dream of winning a Stanley Cup and I'm sure that rubbing some salt in the wounds of his detractors felt pretty sweet after all was said and done.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 15 | 62 ANSWERS Jack Eichel sticks it to his doubters with amazing quote just before training camp Will the Vegas Golden Knights make the Stanley Cup Final again this season? | ||
| Yes | 12 | 19.4 % |
| No | 50 | 80.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
