Jack Eichel And Sam Reinhart: Where Do The Sabres Sophomores Rank?

Following sensational rookie efforts from two of the Buffalo Sabres most exciting players, we take a look at where they rank among their fellow sophomores in 2016-17!

With another season threatening to end without the Buffalo Sabres qualifying for the playoffs, and with winter letting us all know that she ain’t done yet, it is easy to understand why many Sabres fans are miserable right now.

Still, as one reader commented in my piece about a particular player’s point streak, there is a clear light at the end of the tunnel: his name is Jack Eichel, and he has been one of the handful of players on the Sabres roster worth watching every time he takes the ice.

Eichel has once again stolen the spotlight from Sam Reinhart – after all, Jack now leads the team with 47 points despite losing almost the first two months of the season to injury, and his 11-game points streak was the second-longest in the NHL this season – but Reinhart is part of that light at the end of the tunnel, as well.  With 43 points, Reinhart has already surpassed his points total from 2015-16, and will hopefully top 50 points for what should be the first of many such seasons in his NHL career.

With Buffalo’s exciting duo of sophomores improving on their rookie efforts, I thought it would be interesting to see how Eichel and Reinhart compare to the rest of last year’s rookie class (specifically, last year’s top ten rookie skaters).  Without further babbling on my part, here are the results:

Player:                                 2015-16 Stats       ///                  2016-17 Stats

Artemi Panarin:                 30-47-77, .96 PPG   ///              22-39-61, .90 PPG

Jack Eichel:                          24-32-56, .69 PPG    ///            19-28-47, .98 PPG

Max Domi                           18-34-52, .64 PPG      ///            7-22-29, .66 PPG

Connor McDavid:              16-32-48, 1.07 PPG      ///         23-52-75, 1.10 PPG

Shayne Gostisbehere:     17-29-46, .72 PPG      ///            6-23-29, .48 PPG

Dylan Larkin:                      23-22-45, .56 PPG       ///          13-10-23, .35 PPG

Anthony Duclair:               20-24-44, .54 PPG       ///          3-7-10, .22 PPG

Sam Reinhart:                    23-19-42, .53 PPG      ///          16-27-43, .64 PPG

Nikolaj Ehlers:                   15-23-38, .53 PPG     ///            22-32-54, .78 PPG

Robby Fabbri:                       18-19-37, .51 PPG      ///          11-18-29, .57 PPG

As you can see, only McDavid, Ehlers, and Reinhart have already surpassed their rookie point totals at this point in the season, and of the remaining players on this list, only Eichel and Fabbri have a realistic shot of doing so by season’s end.  (I wouldn’t say Panarin has no shot at duplicating his totals from last season, but it’s also not realistic to say he will score 16 points in his final 14 games.)

Furthermore, only Eichel, Reinhart, and Ehlers have significantly increased their points-per-game output this season (significant to me meaning an increase of over 10%).  Reinhart’s offensive output has increased by 20.7% this season; Eichel’s, by an outstanding 42%!  (Don’t question my math – head here to do it yourself!)

So, whether it has been due to injury (in case you were wondering, every single player on this list has played in at least 44 games this season) or the dreaded sophomore slump, most of the players who spent 2015-16 making names for themselves as NHL rookies have experienced some sort of a step backward in 2016-17.  The fact that the Buffalo Sabres have watched both Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart improve upon their rookie campaigns should not be taken lightly.  Draw whatever conclusions you want from this little bit of research – attribute their success however you want – but make no mistake about it: the Sabres’ two best, young players grew in 2016-17, while a good chunk of the competition did not.  If that doesn’t qualify as a light at the end of the tunnel for Sabres fans, then nothing will.