This story appears in the Dec. 31, 2018, issue of Sports Illustrated. For more great storytelling and in-depth analysis, subscribe to the magazine—and get up to 94% off the cover price. Click here for more.

Setting down his turkey burger, Jack Eichel gazes through the windows of a downtown Buffalo restaurant and once again imagines the future. He sees a surrounding riverside area choked with game-day traffic, blue-and-white Sabres jerseys shuffling toward KeyBank Center beneath an early-summer sky. He pictures live music blaring and cameras panning overhead, broadcasting crowd shots to a national audience. He hears chants—LET'S! GO! BUFF-A-LO!—and smells beer. After all, Eichel notes, "Buffalonians don't mind the tailgate."

He visualizes because that is how he has always pursued goals. Growing up in North Chelmsford, Mass., Eichel would tack articles about local athletes receiving college scholarships to the walls of his family's basement, extra motivation while cranking out deadlifts before middle school. Even when the 2015 draft was years away, the background image of his iPod Touch was a picture mosaic of highly regarded prospects, including the only one who would actually get picked ahead of him, Edmonton's Connor McDavid. He also programmed the device to deliver a daily reminder along with his morning alarm: HOW BAD DO YOU WANT TO MAKE THE NHL?

Now that Eichel is there—not to mention captaining the insurgent Sabres at age 22, burnishing his Hart Trophy credentials with 48 points in 37 games, averaging 20:16 per night of all-situation hockey, and generally realizing his potential as the savior for one of pro sports' most woebegone cities—he is singularly focused on an even loftier goal. "Constantly thinking about what it'd be like," he says, nodding toward the nearby waterfront. "First of all, to be in the playoffs. Then to get a good run going would be awesome."

Awesome. Eichel uses that word a lot these days. Thirteen times, to be precise, during an hour-long lunch following a recent Sabres practice. It was awesome living at home in North Chelmsford last summer, crushing his mother Anne’s pasta salad and watching Red Sox games with his father, Bob. It was awesome when Buffalo won the 2018 draft lottery and brought aboard dynamo Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. Ditto for his recent decision to hire a personal chef, who whips up health-conscious dishes (fish, chicken, etc.) but also satisfies Eichel’s massive sweet tooth, recently baking an awesome chocolate caramel cake topped with whipped cream and toffee.

Of course, the most "awesome" thing lately is the love Eichel has felt in Buffalo now that its hockey team has rediscovered relevancy: tied for third in the Eastern Conference at 21–11–5 through Christmas break, four wins shy of its 2017–18 season total. Fervor peaked as the Sabres reeled off 10 straight victories from Nov. 8 through 27, tying a franchise record; Eichel was especially impressed by a Twitter video from the World’s Largest Disco Party on Nov. 24, where dancers at Buffalo Convention Center stopped to watch the Sabres’ shootout triumph over Detroit on a projection screen.

"Everyone's going out of their way to stop you and tell you how proud they are," he says. "Even when things were bad, I really credit this city for being patient. I'm from Boston. It's not that way there at all." Indeed, Eichel was born into a generation practically baptized with champagne. The Curse of the Bambino was broken on the eve of his eighth birthday and nothing was ever the same. "I saw the Sox win in '07 and '13, the Celtics when they had the Big Three, the Patriots win a million times," Eichel says. "The equipment guys here joke that I grew up spoiled."

In reality, Bob managed the warehouse of a plumbing supply company before recently retiring. Anne still pulls 12-hour shifts as a nurse at Boston Medical Center, often rising before dawn. “Buffalo is a blue-collar, hockey-loving town,” Anne says. “So I think Jack fits in there.” And besides, Eichel has already received a blunt education about life in the land of Wide Right and Skate in the Crease. After finishing 23rd, 26th and 31st overall in the three years since Eichel arrived, the Sabres drew boos following the first period of their season-opening shutout loss to Boston on Oct. 4. (O.K., so maybe not patient.)

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