Sabres end 8-month stalemate by trading Jack Eichel to Vegas
BUFFALO, N.Y. » The Jack Eichel era in Buffalo is over, and the former Sabres captain has approval from his new team — the Vegas Golden Knights — to have his preferred surgery to repair a herniated disk.
A nasty public eightmonth feud reached its conclusion on Thursday when the Sabres traded Eichel to Vegas, ending a stalemate over how to treat his neck injury. The dispute revolved around the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement giving teams the final say over the treatment of injuries.
The Sabres balked at Eichel having artificial disk replacement surgery because it had never been performed on an NHL player, and they instead recommended fusion surgery.
The Golden Knights have no such issue.
Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon said Eichel has the go-ahead to have the procedure, which is expected to sideline him for four more months.
The Golden Knights acquired Eichel to address their biggest long-term need, landing a top-line center, by trading forward Alex Tuch, rookie center Peyton Krebs and two draft picks to the Sabres.
“The price was high for him obviously in terms of what we have sent to Buffalo, but at the same time for a player of this ilk, it should be high,” McCrimmon said. “For me, when you look at what an NHL contending team should look like, he’s really an important piece of that.”
Sabres GM Kevyn Adams was relieved to have the Eichel trade finally behind him after spending much of his offseason attempting to negotiate a deal, speaking to all 31 NHL teams. He made the trade with Vegas because the team provided what he called the best package of young players and draft picks to spur Buffalo’s latest rebuilding plan.
“What I felt strongly about was we were not going to be backed into a corner or feel that we were going to make a deal that we did not feel right for us regardless of any external pressure, or anything being said,” Adams said.
As for a dispute that grew bitter over the summer, Adams said, “it was nothing personal,” and wished Eichel the best.
“I think he’s in a really good spot, and I think we got a really, really good return in a really challenging situation,” he said.
Eichel was the Sabres’ highest-paid player and is in the fourth year of an eightyear, $80 million contract. He topped 20 goals in each of his first five seasons and enjoyed a breakout year in 2019-20, when he had a career-best 36 goals in 68 games before the season was abruptly canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Overall, he finishes with 139 goals and 355 points in 375 career games with Buffalo.
Buffalo acquired a top-10 protected first-round pick in the 2022 draft and a 2023 second-round selection. Vegas also acquired a 2023 third-round pick.
The feud became public in May, when Eichel revealed what he called “a disconnect” with the team over treating the injury, and he questioned his future with a franchise that once regarded him as a key building block after selecting him with the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft.
The dispute escalated over the summer, with Eichel changing agents in August in a bid to spur a trade. In September, the Sabres stripped Eichel of his captaincy before the start of training camp.
The standoff drew the attention of the highest levels of the league, with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman calling it “a terrible situation,” without blaming either side.
Eichel joins a Golden Knights team off to a 4-5 start and already depleted by injuries, with five players on injured reserve, not including William Karlsson, who is out indefinitely with a broken foot.
While the Golden Knights are one of the NHL’s most successful expansion franchises, reaching the playoffs in each of their first four seasons, their one weakness has been at center to drive scoring. That was the case last season, when the Golden
Knights scored just 13 goals in losing a six-game series to Montreal in the semifinals.
The Golden Knights currently have the room under their salary cap for Eichel because players on long-term injured reserve don’t count against their active payroll. They will, however, have to get creative once their roster gets healthier, unless Eichel is unable to return until the playoffs, when the salary cap no longer counts.
Eichel is reunited with Vegas goalie Robin Lehner, who spent three seasons in Buffalo. The Sabres acquired Lehner in a trade on the same day they drafted Eichel. Lehner, who previously criticized the NHL and its players’ union for allowing teams to have the final say on surgery, posted a gif of an Eichel goal celebration on his Twitter account following Eichel’s trade.
The Sabres added pieces to a young team off to a better start than expected. Buffalo is 5-3-1 under first-year coach Don Granato and despite a piecemeal roster of youngsters and journeymen.
Tuch is sidelined until January after having shoulder surgery this offseason. The dependable hard-hitting winger from Syracuse has 61 goals and 78 assists for 139 points in 249 career games. Krebs is a 2019 firstround pick who has one assist in 13 career NHL games, and will be assigned to the minors to allow him time to develop.