On Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres …
John Vogl of the Buffalo News: There was a report yesterday (here) that Sabres forward Jack Eichel wasn’t interested in signing a contract extension with the Buffalo Sabres while Dan Bylsma remains the teams head coach. Eichel’s agent called the report “ridiculous.”
“I don’t know where anyone is getting these reports, but they are ridiculous in a word,” Peter Fish said by phone Wednesday. “Jack, he left Buffalo, he thought he had a real good meeting with coach Bylsma and a real good meeting with General Manager Tim Murray. When he got home to Boston, he was genuinely excited with the thoughts that maybe they’re just a few players away from getting into the playoffs.
“We hope to be having talks with Tim Murray when the time is right here, and like I said before, he’d like nothing better than to bring the Stanley Cup to Buffalo because it’s a great city. They’re a passionate fan base. A lot of fans are a lot like Jack in the way he grew up in his family. So I just don’t know where this is coming from, and quite frankly it’s someone who’s got an ax to grind for some reason who doesn’t know him and doesn’t understand him.”
John Vogl of the Buffalo News: Jack Eichel also denied the report about an extension and Bylsma .
“A lot of things have been written today about me and about things that are not true, to be honest with you,” Eichel told The News by phone. “I was a little bit bombarded this morning with a lot of articles that I think are pretty inaccurate. I’m just reading things in the last few days that are a little bit out of whack and not true.”
Eichel’s agent said they will talk with GM Tim Murray when the time is right. Eichel wants to remain with the Sabres.
“I want to be a Sabre and I want to be a Sabre for a long time, and I want to be a part of Buffalo when we win,” he said. “I know it’s an organization that is capable of doing that, and I want to be a part of it and I want to be a centerpiece of it.
“I don’t want to go anywhere else. I don’t want anybody to think that I want to be somewhere else.”