Jack Eichel: Jalen Ramsey’s NHL claim is ‘insulting’

One of the NHL’s top players was not amused by one of Jalen Ramsey’s recent claims.

In a feature about Ramsey published by ESPN last week, writer Mina Kimes wrote that Ramsey has excelled at every sport he has tried except for baseball. Ramsey thinks that even though he’s never skated before, he could probably crack an NHL roster in six months.

You can imagine that those comments did not go over well among NHL players.

ESPN’s Emily Kaplan published a followup piece on Thursday that included the reactions to Ramsey’s comments from multiple hockey players. Some figured that Ramsey was just talking big like usual, others found it amusing and said they’d like to see him try, while some were actually upset by it.

Buffalo’s Jack Eichel, the former No. 2 overall pick and an All-Star last season, found the comment to be “insulting.”

“I think it’s insulting to our league. For us as players, we’ve dedicated our lives to be playing in the NHL. To think after six months you could come play arguably one of the hardest sports in the world? I mean, I think it’s ridiculous he would say that. It’s ignorant,” the Sabres star told ESPN.

Eichel is probably right. It is insulting for Ramsey to think he could succeed so quickly at such a difficult sport, but that’s part of who Ramsey is. The guy is a cocky, trash-talking machine.

As much as we appreciate Ramsey’s big mouth, if he didn’t have the coordination for baseball and he’s never skated before, his chances of succeeding in the NHL are not very good.