At just 20-years-old, Jack Eichel's will to win may stick out more than his incredibly polished skill set - and that's saying something.
Despite leading the Buffalo Sabres in scoring with just 52 games played, looking back on sterling sophomore numbers isn't enough for Eichel. He wants to make the playoffs, but will have to wait at least another season with Buffalo all but dead in the Eastern Conference race.
"Frustrating more than anything," Eichel told Nick Cotsonika of NHL.com after defeating the Red Wings on Monday night. "Want to be a playoff team. Want to play in the playoffs. Get a taste of it. It's tough when you don't get there."
Don't blame the kid for a second, though. Eichel's done more than his part.
In 31 fewer games, Eichel is just six points back of the 56 he recorded last season as a rookie. His 0.96 points per game is 12th among regulars.
Yet, Eichel yearns for he and his club to reach the next step.
"We come to the rink every day and work hard and try to get better, and you don't see the results you want," Eichel said. "It's a bit frustrating, but I think that as players everyone just needs to look in the mirror and become a better hockey player. If you have high expectations, all you can do is just improve yourself. It's all I'm going to try and do. I hope everyone takes the same mindset."
If emerging as one of the NHL's most dangerous threats wasn't enough for Eichel in his second season, it appears the 20-year-old is growing into a prominent leadership role with the Sabres in the process.
It should be noted that Edmonton is 15 games over .500 in regulation decisions, having gone 39-24. However, the team has dropped nine games in overtime, which would shrink the overall difference between wins and losses.
Still, the Oilers are on track for a top-ten season in franchise history in terms of point percentage, with a rate of success unseen since Edmonton was home to one of the great dynasties in hockey history.
Year
Point %
1983-84
.744
1985-86
.744
1981-82
.694
1984-85
.681
1982-83
.663
1987-87
.663
1987-88
.619
2016-17
.604
2005-06
.579
The NHL standings are sorted differently now, of course, with the advent of the shootout and loser point coupled with the elimination of ties. It's probably more fair to compare this year's team with the 2005-06 Oilers that just so happened to come within one win of a Stanley Cup championship.
And at this point, the 2016-17 version appears to be even better.
Much of the credit is due to Connor McDavid and Cam Talbot, but it would be unfair to suggest Edmonton is a two-man show. It's no longer a matter of whether the Oilers can finally get back to the playoffs, but rather just how far they can go.
Every Tuesday, theScore's editors will examine the fortunes of the north's seven NHL franchises. Welcome to "O Canada."
The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin in just over three weeks, and as it stands right now, five Canadian teams are in line for the dance - a far cry from last season, when six of seven clubs picked in the top 10 of June's draft.
As we wind down the stretch run, let's take a look at the men in charge, and dole out some grades for the seasons the seven general managers of Canadian teams have commanded.
Calgary Flames
Grade: A
Take: Brad Treliving has been on fire since the offseason, beginning with a trade for Brian Elliott, who is finally beginning to pay dividends, winning his last 11 consecutive starts.
Treliving also inked cornerstones Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau to long-term contract extensions in the summer, and may have won the deadline with his acquisition of defenseman Michael Stone.
Take: Peter Chiarelli still catches flak for dealing Taylor Hall and signing Milan Lucic until 2023, and while it's difficult to quantify a difference in the Oilers' team dynamic since those deals were made, Edmonton's going to the playoffs for the first time in over a decade - and that's worth something.
Montreal Canadiens
Grade: B+
Take: Likely the busiest of all Canadian general managers this season, Marc Bergevin remains steadfast in having a firm grasp on the makeup of his team.
Shea Weber has shown positive returns in Year 1, and the Canadiens are in fact deeper since making a slew of less-than-glamorous trades at the deadline.
Perhaps most importantly, Bergevin's decision to let Michel Therrien go once Claude Julien became available may have saved Montreal's season.
Ottawa Senators
(Photo Courtesy: USA Today Sports)
Grade: B
Take: Pierre Dorion sure looked like a genius when Alex Burrows scored four points in his first three games as a Senator, but the two-year extension included in the acquisition remains questionable.
Dorion's best move this season was hiring head coach Guy Boucher, whose clear defensive directive has helped Ottawa into a comfortable playoff position to this point.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Grade: B
Take: The plan for Lou Lamoriello and the Maple Leafs has been the same all season long - surround the kids with veterans, and teach them how to win.
With such a great infusion of youth, Toronto's roster has mostly run itself, save for a few in-season call-ups and waiver transactions, though trading for Brian Boyle looks like a win to this point.
Vancouver Canucks
Grade: B-
(Photo Courtesy: Getty Images)
Take: Jim Benning and the Canucks are looking to the future, and that's a good thing.
Usually a punching bag for the deals he orchestrates, Benning quietly obtained solid returns in trading Burrows to the Sens and Jannik Hansen to the Sharks. However, the six-year, $36-million contract he awarded to Loui Eriksson in July doesn't look so good right now.
Winnipeg Jets
Grade: C+
Take: It's been an underwhelming season in Winnipeg, as the talented roster Kevin Cheveldayoff assembled was overrun by poor goaltending.
With few moves made this season, it's difficult to evaluate Cheveldayoff's 2016-17 body of work. That said, the Jets are the second-youngest team in the league, and have all the makings of an elite offense with quality blue-line pieces to boot, so it's not all that bad.
Sitting seven points outside of the playoff picture, the Flyers are on track to miss the postseason for the third time in five years, with nobody to blame but themselves.
After the team rallied to 10 straight wins through mid-December and sat third in the hard-battled Metropolitan Division, Philadelphia has since struggled to a 14-20-5 showing.
The frequent losses have not been lost on general manager Ron Hextall, who likes a lot of his team's game but recognizes that performance isn't complete without results.
"We're doing a lot of the things we should do," Hextall told reporters Monday. "There's some nights it seems where it's puck luck but you can't look at the whole year and say 'puck luck'."
Two top concerns have risen to the surface to explain the Flyers' downward spiral:
Goaltending Woes
Holding an .897 team save percentage, only the Dallas Stars have a worse ratio between the pipes than the Philadelphia duo of Michal Neuvirth and Steve Mason.
Mason is in his fifth season with the Flyers, with Neuvirth in his second. The Flyers brought back both shot-stoppers after they held down the fort a year ago, but neither has lived up to last season's billing:
Goalie
Season
Record
GAA
SV%
Steve Mason
2016-17
21-20-7
2.76
.905
2015-16
23-19-10
2.51
.918
Michal Neuvirth
2016-17
10-10-1
2.91
.887
2015-16
18-8-4
2.27
.924
Both were set to become unrestricted free agents at season's end, until Hextall made the curious move to re-sign Neuvirth, who owns an NHL-worst .887 save percentage, while the GM also kept open the possibility of re-upping Mason.
By offering a raise to Neuvirth, which will see his cap hit climb to $2.5 million, the Flyers have tied their hands from making a major addition in the summer, like signing a big-ticket goaltender, such as Ben Bishop, who is likely to test free agency. Despite this year's lack of results, it appears the Flyers will return with the same goaltending hand for 2017-18.
Ice Cold Offense
The Flyers have spent much of this season digging pucks out of their own net, but haven't been around the opposition's twine as often.
Philadelphia's offense has gone missing in the season's second half, with the team's top three scorers all seeing major offensive declines since the Flyers wrapped their 10-game win streak:
Player
Date Range
Games
G-A-P
P/G
Jakub Voracek
Before Dec. 15
32
11-22-33
1.03
After Dec. 15
39
6-16-22
0.56
Claude Giroux
Before Dec. 15
32
9-21-30
0.94
After Dec. 15
39
5-16-21
0.54
Wayne Simmonds
Before Dec. 15
32
16-13-29
0.91
After Dec. 15
39
13-5-18
0.46
Jakub Voracek has gone nine games without a goal, last scoring against the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 28, while Claude Giroux has just two tallies in his last 19 outings. As for Wayne Simmonds, his scoring touch has been a little more consistent, but he isn't finding the scoresheet when not creating his own offense. Simmonds has just one helper in his last 23 contests.
With just 11 games left on the season, the Flyers will need more than some puck luck to right a lost season. Goals from the team's top producers and key stops in their own end is the only fix.
Darryl Sutter knew nothing was going to come easy in the new-look Pacific Division.
Following Monday's 2-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, Sutter's Los Angeles Kings remained 11 points behind the Calgary Flames, who sit fourth in the Pacific and hold the first wild-card playoff spot. Sutter envisioned improvement from the Alberta teams coming into the season, and a rough road for his team by extension.
"Our division was instantly better when Calgary made their goaltending changes and the evolution of this team here (Edmonton), and the size they’ve added and the mix they have," Sutter said after Monday's loss to the Oilers, per LA Kings Insider.
Sutter added, "San Jose’s the defending conference champion. I knew it was going to be tough for us, and it certainly proved that."
Toss in the Anaheim Ducks and the Pacific isn't quite the playground it once was for the Kings.
It also doesn't help that Los Angeles isn't stepping up when it matters most.
The Kings have scored seven goals in their past five games and went 1-3-1 with their season on the line.
Those seven Kings goals in five games have come on 177 shots on goal, an average of 35.4 per game and a shooting percentage of 3.95 percent. https://t.co/SoPZRr4Cod
Scoring has been an issue all season long for the Kings, who rank 25th in goals per game with 2.4. In fact, only the lowly Colorado Avalanche (12) have been shut out more times than the Kings (9).
The second spot, by the way, is held by the St. Louis Blues, who have six more points and a game in hand on the Kings. With only ten games left on the schedule, it looks like the Kings may be on the outside looking in come playoff time.
Through the remainder of the regular season, we'll take a look at how the night's action impacts the playoff race, highlighting which teams' postseason odds went up or down significantly.
Only five games on the schedule Monday night, but they featured a few playoff hopefuls.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Cam Talbot made 35 saves for his second consecutive shutout and seventh of the season as the Edmonton Oilers ended an eight-game homestand with a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night.
Patrick Maroon and Milan Lucic scored for the Oilers, who won their fourth in a row to move one point ahead of Calgary and into a tie for second place in the Pacific Division with Anaheim. Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid each had a pair of assists.
McDavid leads the NHL with 82 points.
Jonathan Quick stopped 29 shots for the fading Kings, who have lost four of five, further dashing their playoff hopes.
Maroon batted the rebound of McDavid's shot out of midair and past Quick just 64 seconds into the game. It was Maroon's 25th goal of the season - his previous career high was 12.
The Oilers made it 2-0 on the power play with seven minutes left in the opening period as Lucic corralled a loose puck in the crease and slid it under Quick for his 17th. The goal ended a streak of 34 consecutive penalty kills on the road for the Kings.
The Oilers outshot Los Angeles 15-7 in the first, but the Kings recovered and had 28 the rest of the way as Talbot stood tall in net.
The Kings had a power play late in the third, but were unable to get anything past Talbot.
NOTES: The Oilers lead the five-game season series 2-1. The next time the teams face each other is March 28, also in Edmonton. ... Quick was pulled after giving up two goals on seven shots during a 5-2 loss in Calgary on Sunday. ... Talbot made his league-high 65th start of the season. His seven shutouts are the most for an Oilers goalie since Tommy Salo in 2001-02.
The race for the Pacific Division crown hasn't been won quite yet.
With a shootout loss Monday in Dallas - coupled with the Edmonton Oilers' win over the Los Angeles Kings - three teams are now within five points of the San Jose Sharks in the race for the No. 1 seed in the division.
The Sharks managed two goals on their current three-game skid, seeing their record fall to 5-5 in March. This is while the Calgary Flames, Anaheim Ducks, and Oilers combined for 18 wins, five regulation losses, and two overtime and shootout defeats since the end of February.
Each team has 10 games left in the suddenly log-jammed division - and there's a case for the Sharks' road being the most difficult. San Jose will complete the first of three back-to-back sets over the space of 12 nights against a desperate Minnesota Wild team on Tuesday night.
