It’s unfortunate the Buffalo Sabres will miss the playoffs for a staggering sixth consecutive year. This is the longest drought of not making the postseason in franchise history. The previous length of three years missing occurred back between the 2000-01 through 2003-04 seasons.  The lack of solid defensive play, weak five-on-five play, and overall lack of consistent intensity played a part in falling short. While the offseason will provide time for the organization to reflect on the shortcomings and address these issues surrounding the team, Sabre loyalists can find comfort in that the two young talents Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart did not disappoint and played consistently throughout the season.

With only five games left in the season, let’s take a look at how these two young stars have fared during the season and compare to their rookie campaigns.

Eichel Delivers

Eichel had the hopes of the entire team pinned on him. In his rookie year, he missed just one game, getting 24 goals and 32 assists for 56 points and finishing fourth in Calder Trophy voting. Then tragedy struck as he was injured a day before the regular season when Rasmus Ristolainen landed on Eichel’s ankle, forcing him to miss the first quarter of the season. But since he has returned in late November, he has been stellar.

To date, Eichel has nearly matched his totals from his first year season in less time.  He has 23 goals and 32 assists for a total of 55 points.  Barring a collapse, he will eclipse his rookie total of 56.  Of note, he has improved his plus/minus and cut it nearly in half to minus-9 (minus-16 in 2015-16). He has also improved his point totals on the power play to 24 (21 last year) and nearly equaled his even-strength point totals with 31 this year (35 last year).

Jack Eichel will be one of the main faces of Team North America (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

His shooting percentage remains steady at 10.1% for both of his first two seasons. However, he has nearly equaled his shot totals on goal this year from last (228 to 238). It clearly demonstrates that he is generating offensive opportunities for himself and his teammates. If he were healthy throughout the year, based on the numbers, he would be a 30-goal scorer.

The biggest area of improvement needed in Eichel’s game is on faceoffs where he has slipped a bit percentage wise. During his rookie campaign, he was winning at a 41.4 percent clip and its currently at 39.6 percent this year.  There is clearly room for improvement heading into next year, so we will see if there is an uptick in that number.

Reinhart Shines

While a bump in the road for Sam Reinhart saw him miss a team meeting before the game against Columbus, and subsequently be benched, the season has seen consistent play from the young star. He has played in 74 games this year and eclipsed his point total from last year in 79 games. He has a total of 46 points (compared to 42 points last year), which includes 17 goals and 29 assists. There is a slight drop in goal scoring, but has added 10 more assists. This is consistent with his totals with the Kootenay Ice in the WHL, where he had 120 goals and 199 assists over a four-year span.

His plus/minus is equal currently with a minus-8 for both seasons, so there are hopes to see improvement moving forward. He has surpassed his point totals on the power play this year from last with 17 points (10 last year). Just like Eichel, he has increased his shot totals from 165 to 170 with five games remaining. The biggest improvement in Reinhart’s game has been in the area of faceoffs.  He is at a 41.1% this year which is nearly an eight percent increase from his rookie campaign. Hopefully the knowledge gained in the offseason will help further improve his and Eichel’s faceoff skills.

Sam Reinhart , Philadelphia Flyers vs Buffalo Sabres – October 25, 2016 (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

A couple of areas where improvement is needed are in even strength production and improvements in shooting percentage.  He has dipped in both of these areas. Last year, he garnered 32 points at even-strength compared to 29 in the current season, and he has dropped nearly four percent in shooting percentage from 13.9 percent last year. With more confidence as Reinhart develops, those numbers will move up in future seasons.

Looking at the numbers, it looks as if the two young stars did not fall into a sophomore slump as many previous athletes. It bodes well for the Sabres, as necessary improvements need to be made if they are to avoid a seventh year in a row of missing the playoffs.