We Live In A World Where Jack Eichel Is Underrated
Before anybody gets carried away here, I'm not saying that Jack Eichel is severely underrated. It's not like he's some obscure, relatively unknown. Everybody knows he's a star in this league. He's one of the best Americans in the game, he's a Stanley Cup Champion and could have, probably should have, been a Conn Smythe winner.
But if you're having a conversation right now about the best players on the planet, you probably go through a decent list before you bring up Jack Eichel's name. Which is crazy because if this guy came into the league 20-25 years ago, he'd be the face of the NHL.
The Canadian government would be well in their right to ban Jack Eichel from their country after carrying out that vicious murder.
Now this isn't some indictment on hockey fans. It's not like Jack Eichel deserves better. But this just goes to show how ridiculously loaded the NHL is with talent right now. That a guy who has hands like that can still somehow get lost in the shuffle of all the other superstars in the league.
Every single night there's a killer on the ice in the NHL. You've got Ovechkin chasing Wayne Gretzky's record to be the greatest goal scorer the game has ever seen. You have Connor McDavid making NHL defensemen look like a bunch of Make-A-Wish peewees out there every time he touches the ice. Every night there are multiple Bobby Orr's on the ice with guys like Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes, and then a young weapon like Lane Hutson following right behind them. Matthews, Bedard, MacKinnon, Kucherov, a bunch of different goalies.
Jack Eichel is right up there with all of them. 19 points in 13 games so far this season. He's got the Golden Knights buzzing out of the gates with a 9-3-1 start to the year so far. If this was 2003-04, he'd be the best player in the world. But he happens to be alive during the absolute peak of stardom in the sport of hockey right now. Goddamn are we spoiled.