Will Jack Eichel Win Calder Trophy?

Could forward Jack Eichel become the second Buffalo Sabres player in recent years to win the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie?

Well, the folks at NHL.com seem to think so – and it’s yet another question that will be answered for the Buffalo Sabres in the 2015-2016 season.

Okay, so technically this question will be answered at the culmination of the season, but Jack Eichel’s production IS another question for the Sabres heading into the upcoming season.

Just like his cohort Sam Reinhart, who we spoke about yesterday, Eichel has a lot to prove this season. Expectations – and hype – are high heading into the season, and Eichel’s a big part of that.

It’s clear that Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid are the top two rookie names heading into this season, and NHL.com gives Eichel the preseason edge in the Calder Trophy race.

While Jack Eichel’s transition to the NHL isn’t guaranteed to be smooth, he could be well-prepared for it. Having spent time playing in college alongside – and against – players that were older and bigger than him in a competitive market, might help make the jump a bit easier.

In the end, it’s not about comparing Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel.

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Jack Eichel will (likely) become a solid NHL player on his own merits. He’s been thrust into a fairly-young Sabres organization that expects a lot of him, and I think it’s fair to assume that he expects a lot of himself, too.

So just how good will he do this season, his first in the NHL?

At least for now, it seems Jack Eichel will play on the second or third line for the Sabres, giving him a chance to grow while relieved of top-line pressures. He likely won’t play with guys like Evander Kane, Tyler Ennis or Ryan O’Reilly, which appears to be the team’s top line.

Instead, Jack Eichel could find himself among players like Zemgus Girgensons, Johan Larsson and Reinhart.

What exactly are realistic expectations for a rookie in the NHL nowadays, anyway? There’s no generic standard or formula.

Sure, we can point out Sidney Crosby‘s statistics, or Alex Ovechkin‘s rookie year tallies. Crosby registered 102 points – 39 goals and 63 assists – in his rookie year. Ovechkin notched 106 points (52-54) in 81 games that same season.

But Jack Eichel is…. Jack Eichel. And the 2015-2016 Buffalo Sabres aren’t the 2005-2006 Pittsburgh Penguins or the Washington Capitals from that year.

The team itself had grown in pieces over the summer through its various additions, but now it’s about those pieces coming together, and only time can tell how it will all work out.

Assuming Eichel plays in at least 75 games this season (let’s spare a few for illness, injury or even the occasional, rare scratch), how many points will he put up?

If he were to perform at the same rates that Crosby and Ovechkin did in their rookie years, he’d earn upwards of 90 points. But Nathan MacKinnon registered just 63 points in 82 games in his rookie season to win the Calder Trophy two years ago, the most recent forward to do so.

And will he be nominated for – and maybe even win – the Calder Trophy? Will Jack Eichel join the likes of Evgeni Malkin, Jeff Skinner and Gabriel Landeskog and become the NHL’s next Calder Memorial Trophy winner?

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