Sabres trade Eichel to Vegas; he will undergo neck surgery
Jack Eichel lost nearly an entire season of his NHL career due to a stalemate over how to treat a neck injury. The deposed and now former Buffalo Sabres captain has finally gained some clarity — and control — over his future.
It took eight months, but Eichel can finally start thinking about playing again. The bitter, public feud between the Sabres’ franchise player and team over how to treat the injury finally reached a resolution Thursday when Buffalo traded Eichel, 25, to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Eichel received his longstanding wish to leave Buffalo, where he’s only known losing, and join a Golden Knights franchise that has known mostly success during its four seasons of existence.
More importantly, Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon made clear he will allow Eichel to have his preferred choice of surgery by having his herniated disk artificially replaced, which is something the Sabres denied because the procedure had never been performed on an NHL player.
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Bruins 5, Red Wings 1:
Patrice Bergeron scored his first four goals of the season, Brad Marchand had four assists and host Boston beat Detroit.
Marchand assisted on all four of Bergeron’s goals,
Mike Reilly scored his first of the season and
Charlie McAvoy had a pair of assists for Boston.
Jeremy Swayman finished with 14 saves for the Bruins, who remained unbeaten at home.
Golden Knights 5, Senators 1:
Jonathan Marchessault scored twice, and Vegas Golden beat host Ottawa. Mattias Janmark, Brett Howden and Alex Pietrangelo also scored for Vegas, and Robin Lehner made 38 saves against his former team.
Penguins 3, Flyers 2 (OT): Kris Letang stuffed a wraparound by Carter Hart 1:57 into overtime and host Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia. Playing in his first game since Oct. 19 following a bout with COVID-19, Letang's first goal of the season helped the Penguins end a threegame losing streak on a night they played without star center Sidney Crosby and coach Mike Sullivan. Crosby tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday and Sullivan joined him before the opening faceoff.