This might be an unpopular opinion but Malkin was better than Eichel when he was at this age. Also Buffalo declines.

Not unpopular. Malkin doesn’t get the credit he deserves because he forever played behind one of the best to ever play. Malkin was a number one center on probably 27/28 teams at Eichel’s age. He just happen to play for 1 of the 2/3 that he wasn’t. That said, the age difference is too much and Jack Johnson is garbage

Possibly but it’s like apples to oranges with their respective situations at that age. Eichel is quite literally trying to will a team to relevance where as Malkin was stuck behind Crosby until Crosby’s concussion problem arose for awhile.

Buffalo isn't gonna be taking a cap dump in a trade for their franchise player unless EDM decides to trade McDavid for some reason.

malkin was clear cut better than Eichal when he was 23. If Eichal/malkin were the same age, there's no way pens would make this trade. with that being said, malkin has around 10 years on Jack and therefore buffalo would have zero interest in this deal

No more Botterill so Sabres are done making annual trades with Pittsburgh. Thank god... And just an awful effort anyway.

Malkin might've been the best player in the world at a certain time when he was 23. That's when he just went off in the playoffs and won the Conn Smythe

Yes Geno was a beast when he was young but very few people acknowledge he was elite. NGL, I think Eichel’s situation is similar to Tavares when he was in NYI. Both playing on non-playoff teams with weak supporting cast. Heck, they even have similar production numbers at this point of their careers.