Golden Knights make another big splash in Ottawa with Eichel deal

The most injured team in the NHL just traded for a wounded superstar.

And they couldn’t be happier.

“In Jack Eichel, we are getting a player that I think is one of the top players in the league, one of the top centres in the league,” said Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon, speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Thursday.

“He’s in the prime of his career, he just turned 25 years old.”

The Knights seem to do some of their biggest deals while in Canada’s capital. The last time they came through Ottawa, pre-pandemic in January of 2020, they fired then-head coach Gerard Gallant and replaced him with Peter DeBoer.

Now comes this blockbuster trade that the entire hockey world had been waiting for since the summer — with Eichel wanting out of Buffalo and at odds with the Sabres’ medical team over planned treatment of his injured neck.

For Eichel and a conditional draft pick, the Knights gave up winger Alex Tuch, centre Peyton Krebs and two conditional draft picks.

Tuch, who has a shoulder injury, is one of several Vegas regulars out of the lineup — including former Senators winger Mark Stone. However, none of the other banged up Knights is going to be in need of as unique a procedure as Eichel for a herniated disc in his neck.

According to McCrimmon, Eichel will have an artificial disc replacement (ADR) procedure and is expected to make a complete recovery. While the Knights are being kept up to speed on plans for surgery, McCrimmon says that Eichel and his medical team and agent Pat Brisson are making all the arrangements.

The operation should take place “quickly,” McCrimmon said. It could be three to five months before Eichel is ready to play again.

“That might be the best guess I can give you right now,” said the Knights GM.

One Vegas analyst quipped about the Knights acquiring Eichel pre-surgery: “it’s like getting a Christmas present that you can’t open until spring.”

Even while injured, Eichel has been able to train and skate, albeit without contact.

McCrimmon says that Eichel is the first NHL player to have ADR surgery but that others in contact sports and martial arts have come back from the operation to compete again.

“Do we have a comfort level that he is going to return to full health? We do,” McCrimmon said.

It is the Knights’ belief that Eichel can once again be the explosive player who scored 36 goals and 78 points in 68 games in 2019-20, and be a lot less frustrated than he was on a losing Buffalo team. The Sabres made Eichel their second overall pick in 2015.

“When you watch Jack play (you see) size, speed, great playmaking ability, incredibly good hands and shot — his release is special, in terms of how quickly the puck comes off his stick,” McCrimmon says. “His ability to transport the puck up ice — he picks up a puck in your end and then you’re in their end. He’s got that type of speed.”

McCrimmon views Eichel, a Massachusetts native, in the same realm as the elite centres in hockey, rhyming off names like Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Nate McKinnon, among others.

“We were not in the market for another centreman, but this isn’t just another centreman,” McCrimmon added.

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Despite their impressive playoff runs, the Knights have at times been challenged to score enough goals. Eichel, if he returns to form, can be that presence on a power play or five-on-five to change the look of the Knights and their opponents’ ability to match lines.

“There’s only a handful of guys in the world with game-breaking ability,” DeBoer said. “When the game gets tight, they can create something out of nothing. There’s only a handful of guys that have that type of skill. He’s one of them. He’s on that short list.

“At that time of year, when the games get tight, the checking gets tight, those difference-makers are really important.”

Eichel is just the latest big name the Knights have hunted since coming into the league with a flourish in 2017. In particular, they seem to have a thing for collecting future or present captains. The Knights made Stone, the ex-Senators star, their first franchise captain and went on to acquire ex-Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty and defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, who wore the ‘C’ for the St. Louis Blues.

Unlike your average expansion team, the Knights have contended for the Stanley Cup every season and are clearly targeting a Cup win, believing Eichel can put them over the top.

“There’s been no bones made about the fact this organization wants to win and wants to win now,” said DeBoer. “They’re willing to provide whatever resources needed to the players, the coaches, and to the fans in order to chase the Stanley Cup.”

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Eichel has an AAV of $10 million US through this season and four more through 2025-26. According to McCrimmon, the Knights have $30 million either on long-term injured reserve or eligible for LTIR, Eichel included.

He called the Knights’ cap issues an “ongoing dance,” as players get healthy again and others go on LTIR

Senators head coach D.J. Smith, meanwhile, won’t mind seeing Eichel leave the Eastern Conference.

“You know what, I’ve seen Jack Eichel have some of the best games probably in this league,” Smith said on Thursday, prior to the Knights-Senators game at the Canadian Tire Centre.

“He got a hat trick against us two years ago or three years ago (a four-goal performance in November of 2019).

“And I think he had two hat tricks against the Leafs when I was coaching there. I mean, he is a dominant, dominant player when he’s going.

“I didn’t get to see him last year, and obviously he was hurt, but that’s a legitimate No. 1 centre, a bona fide star that can change a franchise. When he’s healthy and he comes back, I think you’re not going to be wanting to be playing (against) him too much with the other firepower that’s around him.”

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