Jack Eichel is named to the NHL All-Star team.
By Jourdon LaBarber / Sabres.com
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jack Eichel has worn a number of hats as his hockey career has progressed, from Hobey Baker Award winner and highly-touted prospect to first-round draft pick and, eventually, to his current place as the leading scorer on the Buffalo Sabres.
Against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, Eichel will take the ice for the first time with a new distinction: NHL All-Star. The third-year forward was named to the Atlantic Division roster for the 2018 NHL All-Star game on Wednesday, the first selection of his career.
“It’s going to be a huge honor, obviously, something that you grow up watching and just some of the people that are going to be there, names and players I grew up watching and idolizing,” Eichel said. “It’s a huge honor … I’m very fortunate to be able to represent the Sabres.”
Coincidentally, Buffalo’s game against Columbus will mark the season debut for another All-Star, albeit one in the AHL. That person is Linus Ullmark, who will start in net for the Sabres after earning his second straight selection to the AHL’s All-Star Game this season.
Ullmark has been practicing with the Sabres this week as insurance for Robin Lehner, who had to take a maintenance day during practice on Monday. The decision to start him against Columbus, however, is not injury-related; rather, it’s a deserved opportunity for a goalie who has excelled all season.
The Sabres will be looking to rebound from a 7-4 loss to Winnipeg on Tuesday, after which Housley demanded a better sense of defensive urgency from his team. That precipitated an emotional practice on Wednesday, in which the physicality even led to an exchange between teammates.
Jason Pominville and Justin Falk suggested afterward that the level of passion shown in that practice may have not only been healthy for the team, but necessary for them to bring on a more consistent basis. Eichel echoed that sentiment on Thursday morning.
“It was good, obviously guys getting emotional, guys showing some pride and passion,” he said. “I think that’s good. It can’t be something that we do one day, a few days. It’s got to be something you bring to the rink every day.”
Falk will return to the Sabres lineup in place of Zach Bogosian, who is expected to miss 4-6 weeks after sustaining a lower-body injury in practice on Wednesday. Bogosian already missed the first 25 games of the season with a lower-body injury, and had averaged 19:09 in 18 games since returning.
“I think he was really, really good,” Housley said. “Especially being off that amount of time, stepping in and a lot of those games when he got back in, he was our best defenseman. Certainly we missed him up to that point, just having the depth and what he brings day in and day out to the team. Moving forward, it’s a setback.”
The Sabres also will be without forward Jacob Josefson, who is week-to-week after sustaining a lower-body injury while blocking a shot on Tuesday. He’ll be replaced by Benoit Pouliot, who returns to the lineup after sitting as a healthy scratch for two of the past three games.
Pouliot is expected to skate on a line with Eichel and Kyle Okposo.
“It’s personal for me,” Pouliot said. “I don’t think I have been playing the way I should be playing. In the beginning of the year, I thought I was skating, forechecking, creating chances or turning pucks over. The past few games haven’t been this way for me. That’s all on me, it’s on no one else.
“I just have to do what I’m capable of doing, helping my linemates out. Just play good and things should be fine.”
Ullmark has won 17 games for Rochester, which ties him for the AHL lead. He’s made 21 career starts in the NHL, 20 of which came during his rookie season of 2015-16.
“We feel that he’s earned a start up here,” Sabres coach Phil Housley said. “He’s had a terrific season down in Rochester, being named an AHL All-Star, and we’re looking for a spark.”