Jack Eichel Stripped Of His Captaincy

Michael DeRosa Thursday, September 23, 2021 Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams announced today that Jack Eichel is no longer the team's captain. He also failed his physical and will be placed on the IR.

“I spoke to Jack two days ago, I spoke to the team yesterday and addressed this, Jack Eichel is no longer the captain of the Buffalo Sabres. From our perspective, the captain is your heartbeat of your team, and we are in a situation where we felt we needed to make that decision.” pic.twitter.com/K0vajWnCR0
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) September 23, 2021

Eichel has been the biggest name in the rumor mill all off-season, but a deal has yet to come into fruition. Due to the severity of his neck injury and his large contract, it makes sense that teams may be hesitant to strike a deal for him. However, an eventual trade is inevitable, especially with the team stripping him of his captaincy.

Yesterday, we reported that Buffalo would strip him of the C, but it's still strange to see it finalized. When the Sabres drafted Eichel second overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, he was expected to be their franchise player for years to come. Now, just six years later, he wants out and the team has not made any progress since then.

In 375 career games with the Sabres, Eichel has 139 goals, 216 assists and 355 points. It's hard to believe that these stats will change, as his time in Buffalo has to be over. Both parties need to move on at this juncture.

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