Matthew Bores

Staff Writer

mdb5896@psu.edu

It’s official, Jack Eichel is no longer a Buffalo Sabre. After a long and drawn out conflict with the Sabres, the Vegas Golden Knights traded for the star forward. Eichel and the Sabres have been at odds for the better part of two seasons on how to go about the Centerman’s herniated disk in his neck. Eichel has not been able to receive the surgery needed because of a disagreement, and his legal team hasn’t been happy about this at all. Sabres Coach Ralph Krueger said that Eichel would be out for an undetermined amount of time, hoping to hear that the injury had fixed itself, keeping the star player out of the game. After not having the surgery, Eichel had a physical on the 23rd of September, which he failed and it was revealed to the public he would be stripped of his captaincy. With the team not allowing the artificial disk surgery, Eichel was looking at a trade, in which Buffalo was asking too much of other teams, leading the trade market to fall silent for the former number 2 pick. Then came November 4th.

Vegas had been in the trade talks with Eichel for a pretty long time, but the asking price had been too high for the Knights. Before the trade, Buffalo wanted Peyton Krebs, who Vegas saw a lot of potential. But after playing for the team for 9 games in the current season, he has no points at all, and was thrown into the deal for Eichel. Also put in the deal was winger Alex Tuch, who was originally drafted by the Knights in the 2017 expansion draft. Tuch has been out with a shoulder injury sustained this postseason. His projected time out was 6 months at the time of his procedure. Also attached to the deal was a 2022 first-round pick and a 2023 third-round pick. Vegas also received a 2022 third-round pick with the star forward. 

After the trade, Vegas confirmed that Eichel would receive the preferred artificial disk replacement and would be out at least 4 months. If the treatment proves successful and the timeline is correct, Jack Eichel could be back in enough time for a playoff push for the Golden Knights, but they look to not jump the gun on his recovery, hopefully making the postseason without him. Vegas is also going to be taking on what was left of Eichel’s deal which is 5 years, $50 Million, and this can prove to be an issue with the already tight cap space Vegas has. Vegas will be 11 million dollars over the allowed cap space, which may lead to more cuts or existing deal readjustments in the future. Vegas will need his production as they have had trouble since coming into the league in 2017, especially on the power play, currently which they are last in the league with.