According to the Associated Press, Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres are negotiating on an eight-year contract extension. While it’s no surprise that the team wants to get an extension done this summer, the report indicates that talks have been ongoing for over a month and now concern a max-length deal. Like Connor McDavid, who signed an eight-year extension earlier this summer, Eichel has one year remaining on his entry-level contract before becoming a restricted free agent in the summer of 2018. 
While McDavid will be the first player that jumps to mind as a measuring stick because of their connection through the draft, Eichel isn’t really in the same class as the $100MM man. McDavid’s $12.5MM average salary is out of reach, but an eight-year deal should still be quite pricey for the Sabres. Despite being only 20, Eichel is just five years away from unrestricted free agency meaning an eight-year extension would buy out four UFA seasons.
An interesting comparable would be Nathan MacKinnon, who last summer signed a seven-year deal that bought out three free agent years. Like Eichel, MacKinnon was a top draft pick (first-overall in 2013) who had found success as an 18-year old in the league. MacKinnon had played three seasons and held a .70 points-per-game rate, while Eichel eclipses that at .80 so far in his short career. Taking into account the increase in salary cap, extra UFA year and increased production you can start to see how Eichel’s extension will easily exceed the $6.3MM average salary that MacKinnon signed for.
The other thing in Eichel’s favor is how clearly he is the face of the franchise going forward. While Ryan O’Reilly and Evander Kane are both excellent (if not elite) players, and Rasmus Ristolainen is the core of the defense, Buffalo knows that their hopes rely on Eichel turning into the superstar he has shown flashes of. That should bode well in his negotiations as he tries to push his total closer to $80MM and a $10MM cap hit. Actually breaking the double digit barrier seems far-fetched, as it would put him among the leagues highest-paid players directly out of his entry-level contract, but something comparable to or even exceeding Ryan Johansen’s recent $64MM extension isn’t actually out of the question.
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