from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News,

As we, um, sharpen our swords in the wake of Saturday's 3-1 loss to Carolina, an utter snoozefest until the final eight minutes, there's one gnawing issue that keeps growing: What's going on with Jack Eichel?

Forget about an elephant in the room. This is an entire herd. Eichel is not the guy we've seen the last two years. He was invisible again for long stretches Saturday -- not getting a single shot on goal for more than 48 minutes.

Eichel has five goals in 20 games, tallying just once in his last 11. He's got a minus-9 rating for the season. Those are the numbers. Now let's move to things you can't measure.

Eichel's body language has been terrible much of season. It's a dirty little secret fans are finally figuring out that he floats off the ice far too much on the end of his shifts.

Just don't tell Housley that. The coach simply isn't dissing any of his players in public, let alone the face of the franchise. Fair enough. You can respect that. And Housley certainly knows what happened to Byslma seven months ago too.

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