[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

A. Half of those guys spent little to no time with Eichel - I mean when were ROR and Eichel on a line together?

No more than Matthews and Tavares have been on a line together.

B. No one on that list is complementary like Matthews/Marner; Mackinnon/Rantanen; McDavid/Draisaitl; Bergeron/Marchand/Pasternk, etc. Now put Gaudreau with Eichel and compare.

Sure, but does the complimentary player make the superstar, or the superstar make the complimentary player look better? You could remove the second player from each of those combinations and the superstar is still a dominant player. I would like to see what Eichel could do with Gaudreau, but I am not expecting any major turn around or astronomical increase in production. If anything, playing in a structured game may hurt Eichel's numbers.

C. I don’t see McDavid, Matthews etc as having some special mentality. Maybe Mackinnon.

Yeah, they do. They want to be the center of attention. They want to be the guy driving the bus. They want to be "the man." Eichel supposedly ain't that guy, which could be why the Sabres struggled as a team. Eichel isn't a leader, which makes both Vegas and Calgary good situations for him, as there are leaders in the room that the team can follow. Some guys just want to play hockey and not have to deal with the pressure of the team on their shoulders. Eichel appears to be one of those guys, and that is fine. You just have to surround him with the right talent.

D. Eichel’s coaches have been Bylsma, Housely, Krueger. I’d like to see him under Sutter.

So would I. I'm not sure how it would go, but I think it would be interesting to watch. Eichel has been given free reign throughout his career, so it would be interesting to see him play in a structured system where accountability is enforced. I think he would follow the flow and adapt to it, but there would be some rough spots along the way as he learns the team game.

I have zero concerns about Eichel’s talent, mindset, defence, or overall game. My only concern is health and that’s just a risk to consider and factor in.

Good, that's you, and I respect that. I do have concerns about his ability to play defense and his GAF meter. Sutter can address the first, but that second one is still worrisome. I'm also majorly concerned about acquisition cost and the long term impact to the organization. Hopefully we get to find out what Eichel would be like under Sutter and in a Flames jersey. I just hope that the cost isn't so much, and the return so low, that we regret the move in the future.