Fansided

Buffalo Sabres Prospect: Jack Eichels Odds At Calder Trophy

By Tim Redinger |

The 2015-2016 NHL regular season is still a ways away, but the Buffalo Sabres have an eligible candidate for the Calder Trophy in Jack Eichel, a candidate is is more than capable of winning the award.  In just one season, he was able to grab as many NCAA honors as he could, becoming the first freshman to win the coveted Hobey Baker award since Paul Kariya achieved the honor in 1993.

So this may sound a little premature, but Jack Eichel stands the best change for the Calder trophy of the three would-be finalist, assuming that the one, two, and three draft picks are the finalists, and that other “rookie” eligible players do not overshadow the likes of Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Dylan Strome.

More From SabreNoise – Protecting Buffalo Sabres Roster From Expansion Draft

So without having seen any of the 2015-2016 rookie class play any hockey, solely on the fact that the Buffalo Sabres have Jack Eichel, a winner of the Hobey Baker – I wanted to look at other Hobey Baker winners and see how many of them went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award in the National Hockey League, as well as how many Hobey Baker winners played for the Buffalo Sabres.

Live Feed class=inline-text id=inline-text-4
Columbus Blue Jackets: What Should We Expect from Adam Fantilli?
Columbus Blue Jackets: What Should We Expect from Adam Fantilli? /

Union and Blue

  • NHL 24: Five stars who would make the perfect cover athleteApp Trigger
  • The Vegas Golden Knights are truly a special organizationPuck Prose
  • 5 favorites to win NHL Conn Smythe Trophy as of June 12Puck Prose
  • How Vegas pummeled Florida for a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup FinalFanSided
  • The single biggest takeaway from Golden Knights Game 2 winVegas Hockey Knight

    • Buffalo Sabres Hobey Baker Winners

    Buffalo Sabres Calder Trophy Winners

    Not every member of the above list turned out to be a great professional hockey player – the pool of players in the NCAA ranks in any given number of years might not be as strong, or some people might just not translate to the pro game as well as others.  Here is the list of Calder Trophy winners that have played for the Buffalo Sabres:

    Chris Drury won both the NCAA top honors and NHL rookie of the year honors.  He is in elite company, as the only Hobey Baker winner to win the Calder Memorial Trophy.

    Can Jack Eichel be the second player in the history of the two awards to win both?

    Next: Do the Buffalo Sabres have a Calder Trophy Candidate in the system?

    More from Sabre Noise

    Home / Buffalo Sabres History