Oftentimes, big-name pending unrestricted free agents aren’t open to continuing negotiations on an extension once the puck drops on the regular season to avoid the off-ice distraction. That won’t be the case for Golden Knights star Jack Eichel, who’s keeping the already cordial dialogue on contract talks open for however long he needs to, he said at last week’s Player Media Tour.
“I’m definitely not in the ‘no communication’ (camp),” Eichel told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. “I just try to focus on things that are in my control. If the contract happens organically, then it happens. Right now you’re just focused on getting yourself in as good a place as you can be to start the season and help the hockey team.”
Extension projections for Eichel have climbed to nearly $14MM per season on a max-term deal with next year’s salary cap set to rise to an estimated $104MM, according to AFP Analytics. That assumes he actually signs one of the last eight-year blockbusters before the maximum extension length drops to seven years next year, but there won’t be any hiccups there. TSN’s Chris Johnston said on his SDPN show last week that the player and club are in alignment on keeping him in Vegas for as long as possible.
Letting already drama-free talks continue to play out likely creates less distraction for the player than adding controversy to a set of negotiations that’s largely been out of the news since they began at the beginning of the summer. Yet Eichel’s use of the word “organically” to describe contract talks is a bit of a stretch. He’s just one of a potentially generational 2026 free agent class, flanking Kyle Connor, Kirill Kaprizov, and Connor McDavid atop the list. Seeing one of the first three sign a deal before McDavid sets the market with his expected short-term deal in Edmonton would be a surprise.
The other storyline is Vegas’ continued flirtation with the salary cap. Even under the new LTIR rules, the Knights will still be able to take full advantage of Alex Pietrangelo’s $8.8MM worth of LTIR relief if his injury status remains unchanged for 2026-27. That could leave them with around $29MM in spending money next summer when all is said and done. If that’s down to $15MM after getting an Eichel extension signed off, they still need to spread that around seven or eight other open roster spots. Only one of those spots is a free agent of true consequence for Vegas – that’s pending RFA Pavel Dorofeyev, who could conceivably swallow up half of that balance after scoring a team-leading 35 goals last season.