#also i respect the sabres! go enjoy them! they're fun as hell! theyre not Good though so prepare for that

[sergeifyodorov]

SO curious 2 know if the rasmus "i fucking hate him" dahlin comment in ur newest fic re: jack eichel had any real life corollary

sincerely, from not a sabres fan but might just be after ur fic!

so i WILL preface this by stating that eichel very much was a victim of circumstance -- sure, he was the second-most touted prospect in his draft class by some margin (the tier list went: mcdavid-eichel-strome and marner were seen as about the same tier) but it was made fairly clear that the sabres' management group at the time didn't want him. they wanted mcdavid and were pissed they didn't get him. can only imagine what it's like to live your nhl dream only to be immediately told you weren't wanted.

that being said, the time of his captaincy in buffalo was said to be... how do i put this. a Miserable Fucking Experience for literally everyone involved. ryan o'reilly, for example, was a sabre for three years overlapping with the start of eichel's captaincy, and during his time there almost completely lost his passion for the sport. ROR is one example, but there are multiple reports like this from sabres who were sabres for any length of time at all during the eichel days.

the sabres seem to be in a much better headspace now that he's gone -- not that they're a great team, but they seem to like each other -- so that's good! but it's still probable (although im not a sabres fan so take this all with a grain of salt) that sabres who were there during the eichel years, eg dahlin, wouldn't look fondly on the guy.