The Vegas Golden Knights have found a way to afford an eight-year, $96MM contract for incoming winger Mitch Marner. Even with shrewd cap planning, Vegas has ended up $7.64MM over the salary cap. That overage will be addressed when Alex Pietrangelo’s $8.8MM cap hit is placed on long-term injured reserve, but the Golden Knights will face much of the same challenge next year, with star center Jack Eichel set to head to unrestricted free agency following the 2025-26 season. Vegas is already working out what Eichel’s could look like – with an expectation that it could be pricier than Marner’s new deal, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared on the latest 32 Thoughts Podcast.
Directly comparing Eichel and Marner may be a difficult task, but there’s no arguing the Massachusetts native is among the top echelon of NHL forwards. Eichel scored a career-high 94 points in 77 games this season, then added an additional 10 points in 11 postseason games. The performance was a true peak after Eichel managed strong scoring in each of his first three seasons with Vegas. That includes scoring 26 points in 22 games as the Golden Knights chased their first Stanley Cup win in 2023.
Eichel joined the Golden Knights in 2021, following a true saga of clashing relationships and trade rumors. He was in the midst of recovering from a herniated disc in his neck at the time, setting off an injury and recovery that was often undefined and confusing. Eichel sustained the herniated disc on March 7th and was declared as out for the remainder of the 2020-21 season just over one month later. But there was conflict over if he should undergo surgery to address the issue. Eichel preferred an artificial disc replacement procedure, while Buffalo preferred a fusion surgery. Eichel’s lawyers later commented on the debate, scolding the Sabres for not letting the player choose his option in July of 2021. Eichel continued forward with no surgery, and failed his team physical at the onset of the 2021-22 season – prompting Buffalo to strip him of the team’s captaincy.
That stripped ’C’ kicked off a lucrative trade market that looped in many of the league’s top teams. Ultimately, in November of 2021, it was the Golden Knights who won out the sweepstakes – acquiring Eichel for the cost of center prospect Peyton Krebs, pro winger Alex Tuch, a first-round pick used on Noah Ostlund, and a conditional second-round pick that Buffalo flipped to the Minnesota Wild. Vegas granted Eichel the permission to undergo his desired surgery immediately following the move, and he managed to make his Vegas debut just four months later in February of 2022.
Since then, Eichel has been a perennial scorer for the Golden Knights. He scored 66 points in 67 games of his first full year with the club, then followed it up with 68 points in 63 games last season. Health remained a concern, but Eichel proved he can play well above his baseline when he plays through 70-or-more games in a season. His 94-point year this season confidently passed his previous career-high of 82 points set in 77 games of the 2018-19 season. With the strong year, Eichel has now reached 608 points in 616 NHL games.
There may still be some nerves about Eichel’s ability to repeat the 90-point year. But given a bill of good health, and a brand new superstar linemate in Marner, it seems more-and-more certain that Eichel will return to his dominant ways. He’ll be playing for a contract this season, and could surpass the cap hit of both Marner and Mikko Rantanen given his premium role as a top-line center. Eichel added a 45.6 faceoff-percentage and 55 blocked shots to his stat line this season. He finished third in Lady Byng Trophy voting, and fifth in both Hart Trophy and Selke Trophy voting. With a strong year next season, Eichel could end up a favorite to win multiple player trophies.
All depends on term but I would think Matthews aav but 8 years sounds good for Jack and his surgically repaired neck
Hard to believe he’s almost 29. He’ll carry them through their contention years then cap won’t matter when they rebuild so it makes a lot of sense. That or he’ll be the next Pietrangelo parked on LTIR a few years down the track. Not much risk for VGK.
Remember when Eichel had a bad reputation in the league, And yet here we are, McDavid is still looking for his first cup, As is the Matthews guy.
Yes, the “bad reputation” of wanting his neck surgically repaired the way he wanted.
I can’t see any scenario where I’d let the Buffalo Sabres make a major medical decision for me.
At this point I think we have to ask does Eichel set McDavids market, or does McDavid set Eichels market?