The Vegas Golden Knights and Buffalo Sabres couldn't be further apart from each other. One has the best points percentage entering Thursday (.716) and has dominated the league. The main reason? You guessed it: Jack Eichel and his 48 points. Ironically, the 4 Nations Face-Off representative came from Vegas's opponents on Saturday in the Buffalo Sabres.
They're the exact opposite of the Golden Knights, sitting outside playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference. Currently, they're last in the Atlantic Division with 32 points in a season that saw them lose 13 straight games. Guess what time it is in Buffalo? Time to watch Josh Allen lose to Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs and time to fire up the trade rumors.
Believe it or not, one of those trade targets is Alex Tuch. If you don't know who he is, Tuch is a former Golden Knights winger who skated with the team during their 2017-18 Stanley Cup Final run. The 28-year-old scored 61 goals and 78 assists during his four-year stint with Vegas.
A potential reunion with Tuch and a superstar in Jack Eichel aren't the only two things both teams share. Other players are involved in this "love-fest", including a former first-round pick for the Vegas Golden Knights. Let's look at the similarities between both teams and see how they're connected.
The connections between the Vegas Golden Knights and Buffalo Sabres
The first connection comes from that Eichel trade. Alex Tuch was joined by a former first-round pick Peyton Krebs (17th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft). The former Golden Knights prospect was dealt alongside a 2022 first-round pick and a 2023 second-round pick for Eichel and a 2023 third-round pick.
Overall, he's had an anonymous career with the Buffalo Sabres, only scoring 24 goals and 52 assists in four seasons. His best season was 2022-23, where he scored nine goals and 17 assists. Krebs also had 19 takeaways and 93 hits, giving the Sabres an edgy bottom-six center.
One will look at those stats and not think much of the 23-year-old since he's a former first-round pick. However, it was a necessary move on par with trading away Cody Glass. Kelly McCrimmon didn't expect him to amount to much, adding him to the deal to sweeten the Eichel proposal. Hmm... I wonder if Brendan Brisson could be traded for Tuch?
Alex Tuch isn't the only "Original Misfit" with Sabres-Golden Knights connections
During the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, the Vegas Golden Knights picked William Carrier with the fifth overall pick. The "Misfit" was picked from the Buffalo Sabres, who protected players like Robin Lehner (another connection). He also impacted the bottom-six lines positively, making him one of the key players for the Golden Knights.
Carrier scored 53 goals and 46 assists during his seven-year tenure, providing key scoring on the fourth line. However, his calling card was checking people... a lot. He amassed 1,116 hits during that stint, making him one of the most physical players on the Golden Knights. The Carolina Hurricanes forward made his living with names like Ryan Reaves and Keegan Kolesar by wearing their opponents down. In turn, it led to late-game scoring opportunities for the Golden Knights.
Colin Miller is another example of a player shared between both franchises. He spent two seasons with the Golden Knights and three with the Buffalo Sabres. The defenseman scored 13 goals and 57 assists with Vegas while scoring seven goals and 30 assists with Buffalo. It's safe to say Buffalo got the same production that the Athletics would from a mid-level baseball player past his prime. Don't forget Victor Olofsson, who's having a rebound year with Vegas (eight goals, five assists in 2024-25).
Sabres fans might hate the Golden Knights like Connor McDavid hates getting new socks. However, they share plenty of similarities, giving them something to bond over. Sabre fans probably don't want to admit it, though. They saw Eichel lift the Stanley Cup in Las Vegas, after all.