Vegas Golden Knights should look to rescue Eichel from Buffalo hell
Why It Would Work
This is pretty obvious but we are going to delve in and explain anyway.
Jack Eichel is a generational talent and he would push any legitimate contender over the top and then some.
Drafted 2nd overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Eichel does get lost in the looming shadow cast by the man picked above him that year, Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid.
Eichel is an absolute stud in his own right, however, and he’s really elevated his game over the past couple of years, while it isn’t his fault he was drafted by a franchise that continually trends backwards rather than forwards.
He burst out with a career-year in 2018-19 for the Sabres, recording 82 points (28 goals, 54 assists) in 77 games, before putting up 36 goals and 42 assists for 78 points 68 games prior to the NHL going on hiatus this year.
And just think of the damage Eichel could really wreak when put on a better team with a plethora of potent weapons around him.
With either Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith or Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone as his line mates, Eichel would truly thrive in Sin City and he would be the star on a contending team.
He hasn’t hit his prime yet so he could elevate his game to a whole different level with the Golden Knights with more pieces around him, which is a scary thought for the rest of the NHL.
Plus, with his current contract running through the 2025-26 season, Eichel would slot right in with the current core group in Vegas and could be the difference between one Stanley Cup and multiple championships.
From a salary cap perspective, as we mentioned in the previous slide it is likely to be a couple of years until anything dramatic happens with Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres, if at all.
With that in mind, let’s say that Eichel requests a trade following the conclusion of the 2021-22 NHL season.
The Golden Knights would be free from Paul Stastny‘s $6,500,000 cap hit by that point, while they could look to shop Reilly Smith who would be going into the final year of his contract.
But, with Stastny’s albatross of a contract off the books coupled with the fact that the salary cap could rise by the 2022-23 season should the world be back in order by then, the Knights would be able to find a way to make Eichel’s Average Annual Value of $10,000,000 work.
And, after all, if an elite talent such as Jack Eichel becomes available, you work whatever magic with the salary cap you can in order to make it work.