Buffalo Sabres: Is it Really Any Surprise Jack Eichel Injured Himself?
By Paul Taylor
Given all the anguish Buffalo Sabres’ fans have suffered through the years, it was almost ordained Jack Eichel would get injured on the eve of the new NHL season.
Before we start, I feel it’s important to point out that I’m not a Buffalo Sabres‘ fan and I don’t hail from Western New York. Heck, I’m not even from North America.
Why did I feel the need to tell you all this? Pure and simple, I wanted to stress that what follows is an objective viewpoint, rather than the pessimistic, “woe is me” ramblings of a Buffalo area sports fan.
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With that out of the way I ask, is it really any surprise Jack Eichel suffered a high ankle sprain during practice on Wednesday? John Vogl of The Buffalo News reported that while no timetable has been set, he anticipates Eichel will be out of action for a minimum of one month, and potentially two.
Having kept an eye on the Buffalo sports scene since first becoming interested in North American sports back in the mid-eighties, the 19-year old’s injury is in keeping with the local narrative. For any success the Sabres — and Bills — have enjoyed in that time, it has been constantly overshadowed by anguish.
There may be other sporting cities such as Minnesota, Cleveland and Seattle who claim they have suffered similarly. However, they have at least enjoyed some Championship success over the years in North America’s major sports leagues.
None of them have a history which includes wide right and four consecutive Super Bowl losses. And more relevant to the Sabres, none of them have suffered two Stanley Cup final defeats, with the second one being lost as the result of a certain “No goal” controversy.
Having said all that, I’m actually here to tell Buffalo sports fans that all hope is not lost. We’ve already seen evidence of this, with the Bills recovering from an 0-2 start to win three straight.
In respect of the Sabres, we’re not exactly talking about a bunch of chumps here. There are still a plethora of offensive weapons for the Sabres, including the likes of Ryan O’Reilly, Sam Reinhart and Kyle Okposo, (although the latter will also miss Thursday’s home opener against the Montreal Canadiens).
This is not to say the Sabres weren’t deflated by Eichel’s injury, which came a mere eight minutes before the end of practice. As head coach Dan Bylsma told Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News and the rest of the media: “I think we all felt it on the ice.
“We were having a good practice, a lot of jump and enthusiasm in practice and that happened and took the wind out of the arena a little bit and the wind out of the guys a little bit. At that point in time you could probably slap them in the face to say, ‘snap out of it’ but everyone’s thoughts are with the injury and with the extent of it.”
Overall, no one is claiming the loss of Eichel won’t be felt to some degree, especially after he finished second on the team last season with 56 points. However, the team has more than enough talent in depth to survive during the 2015 second overall draft pick’s absence.
Next: Sabres and Rasmus Ristolainen end game of chicken
How do you expect the Sabres to do without Eichel? Do you think they have enough talent to make up for his absence? Let us know in the comments section below.