Eichel has remained at his Buffalo home since returning from Montreal on Thursday, March 12. That was the day the NHL suspended its season while the world worked to slow the spread of COVID-19.
He's kept busy the way most have: books, music, television. He's listening to the Stone Temple Pilots' live MTV Unplugged album. He's reading "Can't Hurt Me," the autobiography of retired Navy SEAL and triathlete David Goggins. And, yes, he's watching "Tiger King."
Given the chance, Eichel would like to see the season resume and for the Sabres to play their final 13 games. He's been utilizing his gym at home for that possibility. The Sabres performance staff has kept in touch with players, providing workouts and other tools to stay in shape.
But, like most, his thoughts now are primarily with the health of his loved ones and the people worldwide dealing with the coronavirus.
"I think if you get an opportunity you just try to make the most of it," Eichel said. "But I think at this moment, everyone's just sort of - I think their minds are off of hockey and just kind of trying to figure out how to control this pandemic the best we can and just figure out a way to be safe and stay healthy through the situation.
"In my mind, obviously I love hockey and it means so much to me, but I think right now it's kind of been put on the backburner. A lot of my thoughts go towards my family and health and the people I care about and all the people that are dealing with this. There's so much more at stake right now than hockey games."
Eichel once again took his game to another level in 2019-20. His 36 goals were a career high and, in just 68 games, he was only four points shy of matching his career-best mark of 82. He echoed Sabres coach Ralph Krueger's remarks from a week ago in saying that he saw the team's final stretch of games as a chance to build on habits they'd worked on establishing all season.
"I think we've taken a lot of strides this year," he said. "The NHL is such a competitive league and the parity between the best teams and the middle teams and the bottom teams, it can flip over so quickly. I think we definitely looked at these last [13] games as an opportunity to continue to build our culture and build our team identity and to build towards the future."
