Jack Eichel’s Golden Knights Debut Was One for the Books

Analysis

Jack Eichel, right out of the gate was easily one of the more noticeable players on the ice. It is possible that it’s because all the eyes were on him tonight? Yes. That statement however doesn’t change the fact that he was very noticeable on the ice.

Eichel in the offensive zone showed signs of the Jack Eichel we were hoping to get. He played a strong game with the puck on his stick in both moving the puck, finding opportunities, and applying pressure.

He was for sure playing a pass-first game which led to him only having one shot on goal. However, that’s not the only good part of his game. Never has been.

As a center, you are generally looking to facilitate the puck from the middle and try getting a quick one-time opportunity to your wingers or defenseman. Now, that’s not always the case. Sometimes you get anomaly’s like Auston Matthews, but Eichel isn’t Matthews.

Eichel is a terrific goal scorer with a incredible wrist shot, but he’s always been a great playmaker and that has been his identity. Which is what he showed the Knights in this game.

Having a couple passes that led to terrific opportunities for Max Pacioretty and Evgenii Dadonov, he showed great vision and great passing. Which is something that the Knights are probably going to be asking of him a lot.

Pacioretty is known for his great shot, and in order to balance that out, you need a guy who can pass the puck well and put it on his stick. Dadonov, although a talented player, isn’t exactly a great passer which leaves the playmaking part of the line to be on Eichel’s shoulders.