Poll: Grading The Jack Eichel Trade
It was a saga that dragged on and on (and on) for months but on Thursday, Jack Eichel’s tenure in Buffalo officially came to an end as he was traded with a 2023 third-round pick to Vegas in exchange for winger Alex Tuch, center Peyton Krebs, a 2022 first-round pick, and a 2023 second-round pick.
The Golden Knights had long been speculated as a landing spot for Eichel. Their desire to add a number one center had been well-known and they’ve had a tendency to find ways to land impact players in the early years of the franchise including the acquisitions of wingers Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty plus the signing of Alex Pietrangelo in free agency. Now, they have a legitimate top middleman, or at least that’s the hope assuming all goes well with his upcoming surgery.
The fact that Vegas was able to land Eichel without giving up a player from their current roster is impressive but it also is going to create some other challenges down the road from a salary cap perspective. Eichel joins Pacioretty and Stone on LTIR which keeps them cap-compliant for the next few months at least. But when they’re all ready to return, they will be well over the Upper Limit and some other moves will need to be made. Even if one of them stays on LTIR for the rest of the regular season, there’s still 2022-23 and beyond to think about. They have $78.735MM committed to 11 players for 2022-23, per CapFriendly, with an expected Upper Limit of $82.5MM. It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that more subtraction needs to come.
Whatever those moves ultimately wind up being will ultimately have to be factored into the cost of this deal for Vegas. They’ve given up Krebs, Tuch, and the two picks so far but what will the other ramifications be?
Meanwhile, Buffalo’s cap situation was at the exact opposite end to the point where they had to take on Johnny Boychuk’s injured contract from the Islanders merely to get back to the salary floor. But they were able to move Eichel without taking significant salary commitments back which appeared to be a goal when they started down this path last season.
In Krebs, they hope to have another center to build around alongside Dylan Cozens; the two were both first-rounders back in 2019 (seventh overall for Cozens while Krebs went ten spots later). The center spot has been the weakness of their quickly-expanding prospect pool and this certainly helps on that front although as is the case with all prospects, things may not go as planned.
As for Tuch, the Sabres add a power forward that has long been perceived as someone that could have another level in him if he had the chance to play a bigger role. He’ll get that chance with Buffalo and with five years of team control at a reasonable $4.75MM AAV, Tuch will be another long-term building block.
To get two potential top-six pieces plus a pair of draft picks (one being a first-rounder) is by no means a bad return but when you look at Eichel’s track record and how he was supposed to be the focal point of Buffalo’s rebuild, it’s understandable if it feels a little underwhelming as well. The Sabres are certainly a victim of circumstances here with his neck injury but it’s at least in part by their own design with their unwillingness to allow Eichel’s desired surgery, thereby delaying his return. Accordingly, there will be a ‘What If?’ element to this trade that will go on for years to come.
It only seems fitting that following all of the uncertainty for months leading up to the eventual trade, there’s still an awful lot of uncertainty even after it was made. Who else will need to leave Vegas to make the money work and what could have been the return had Sabres GM Kevyn Adams perhaps done things differently?
Of course, we can’t evaluate those scenarios but we can evaluate the trade itself. How do you feel both teams made out in this swap? Vote in the polls below to award your grades.
Jack Eichel To Undergo Surgery On November 12th
- Golden Knights center Jack Eichel will have his disk replacement surgery next Friday in Denver, relays David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. GM Kelly McCrimmon indicated yesterday that the hope is that the 25-year-old will be able to return three to five months after having the procedure. That would have Eichel returning sometime between February and April. While that is a bit of an extended timeline, the fact it hasn’t been performed on an NHL player before leads to some uncertainty.
More Moves Are Necessary For The Vegas Golden Knights
Today was certainly a day to be happy for Vegas Golden Knights fans. The team acquired a top-ten center in the league in Jack Eichel while only losing one piece each from their prospect and draft pool.
However, the reality stands that Eichel isn’t free. He’s currently in the fourth year of an eight-year, $80MM deal that counts against the salary cap for $10M per year.
The Knights are doing a delicate dance with the salary cap’s Upper Limit, shifting both Eichel and Mark Stone to long-term injured reserve today to accommodate the transaction. They join Max Pacioretty on the list, meaning the entirety of what’s expected to be Vegas’ top line is on LTIR.
Now, this number is expected to decrease slightly as they send some players down as the team gets healthier, but CapFriendly lists the Golden Knights with a $91.8MM cap hit, just over $10M above the $81.5MM Upper Limit.
While the team should be able to activate Pacioretty and Stone without issue, it’ll be impossible as things currently stand to activate Eichel when he’s expected to return in February or March. The team will need to have a cap hit below the $81.5MM Upper Limit at that point in order to do so.
Needless to say, moves will need to happen for Vegas to shed enough salary to become cap-compliant. It’s no small amount of money, either, as they’ll likely need to offload $7-8MM in order to make things work.
Reilly Smith and the one year remaining on a deal paying him $5MM per season scream out as a likely candidate to be traded by the Knights. If Eichel is healthy prior to the trade deadline, it’s entirely feasible that Vegas could flip him to quite literally anyone. They could operate as a seller and trade Smith to a contender in the Eastern Conference, or trade him to a seller that could then flip him at the deadline.
If clearing that isn’t enough, the team could look at trading or waiving Brayden McNabb and his $2.5MM cap hit. He too is in the last year of his contract, and his role with the team is quickly being made expendable with the emergence of Nicolas Hague.
Regardless, it’s a surefire conclusion that the makeup of the team will need to be cheaper when Eichel is healthy and ready to play.
Snapshots: Tkachuk, Drouin, Coyotes
While many fans will be eager to move on from the Jack Eichel trade saga that finally wrapped up Thursday after an early-morning deal to the Vegas Golden Knights, there were many rumors in the days leading up to the trade that deserves attention. While it was common knowledge in the week or so prior to Thursday that the Calgary Flames were potential suitors for the star forward, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes tweeted Wednesday that the team had offered winger Matthew Tkachuk in a potential package for Eichel. However, Tkachuk said today that he “had a hard time believing” that Calgary would have been willing to part with him, supporting other reports today that Tkachuk was not on the table. Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams also stated that the report “was not accurate.” It would’ve been shocking to see the Flames part with Tkachuk, who’s entering the final season of a $7MM contract. The 23-year-old has four goals and six points through nine games this season.
More from around the league:
- Jonathan Drouin sits out tonight for the Montreal Canadiens, per Newsday’s Andrew Gross. Drouin left Montreal’s game on Tuesday night after taking a puck to the head and was actually transported to the hospital for further evaluation, but was discharged and was seen at the Bell Centre after the game. No timeline has been issued by the team on his injury, but it continues an unfortunate slew of health issues that have plagued the Canadiens this season.
- The Arizona Coyotes tried to be a part of the Eichel trade, as mentioned in today’s episode of TSN’s Insider Trading. As a third-party member, the Coyotes likely could’ve taken on considerable value by offering to retain a small portion of Eichel’s salary in the deal. Salary retention in three-team deals has been an increasing trend in the league, with multiple low-spending teams gaining draft capital at last year’s Trade Deadline by helping facilitate deals.
Vegas Golden Knights Acquire Jack Eichel
After months of speculation, negotiations, and public frustration, the Jack Eichel saga in Buffalo has come to an end. The Vegas Golden Knights and Buffalo Sabres have both officially announced a trade that will take Eichel to the desert. He will go to Vegas along with a 2023 third-round pick, in exchange for forwards Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, a 2022 first-round pick, and a 2023 second-round pick.
The first-round selection is top-10 protected and the Sabres did not retain any salary. Should the pick end up in the top 10 after this year’s lottery, the Golden Knights will send their 2023 first-round and 2024 second-round picks instead of the ones listed. In that case, the Sabres’ 2023 third-round selection that is included would also become a 2024 third-rounder. Basically, if it ends up in the top 10, all three picks bump forward a year.
For Buffalo fans, seeing a frustrated first-line center shipped out of town for a collection of assets is certainly familiar but this deal is not the same as the one that took Ryan O’Reilly from them a few years ago.
In that deal, the best young player the team received was Tage Thompson, as both Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka were established talents already on their way out of the league. This time in Tuch and Krebs, the Sabres have secured two players that are still improving and should be able to help the club for much longer.
Tuch, 25, is in the third season of a seven-year, $33.25MM contract that already appears to be one of the most reasonable deals in the league. The 6’4″ forward is a blend of size and skill that’s incredibly difficult to find, and has shown an ability to score at a high level even with limited opportunity. In 55 games last season he scored 18 goals and 33 points despite his most common linemates at even strength being Nicolas Roy and Keegan Kolesar.
In Buffalo, he very well could see much better offensive deployment and end up lining up in the top-six. That’ll have to wait a few months though, as Tuch is recovering from offseason surgery and isn’t expected back in the lineup until January.
Krebs meanwhile will likely step directly into the Sabres forward group, where he’ll take the next steps of his professional career. Still just 20, Krebs was the 17th overall pick in 2019 and has already reached the NHL. While he has yet to score a goal in his 13 career games, there are obvious signs that he can be a valuable contributor and adds another option at center ice for Buffalo.
Adding another first-round pick means the Sabres now have three selections this year after they had already acquired one from the Florida Panthers. Given how many top prospects they already have in the organization, there’s a real chance that Buffalo could have a very quick turnaround and start competing in the next few years.
The question now becomes whether that turnaround will be navigated properly. Buffalo has now seemingly run another star player out of town with poor management and coaching choices, resulting in a situation that could only be resolved by trade. The old adage “whoever gets the best player in the deal, wins” could apply here, as Eichel is certainly a level above Tuch or Krebs when healthy.
Healthy is the concern now for Vegas, but the Golden Knights must obviously believe in the disk replacement surgery that Eichel is after. Whenever he does go under the knife, he still faces a months-long recovery, meaning he won’t be on the ice at T-Mobile for quite some time.
When he does return though, Eichel is exactly the kind of first-line center that the Golden Knights have been looking for since they came into existence. The team has gotten by with the exceptional two-way play of William Karlsson and have worked to turn Chandler Stephenson into a legitimate top-six force, but have never had a player like Eichel that can drive offense at an elite level.
In 375 career games, Eichel has 355 points including breaking the point-per-game threshold in both 2018-19 and 2019-20. He can score at even-strength and on the powerplay–the latter of which is currently 0-18 for the Golden Knights–while logging huge minutes in the middle of the ice. In 2020, Eichel finished eighth in Hart Trophy voting, after scoring 36 goals and 78 points in 68 games.
Of course, to land Eichel the Golden Knights not only had to part with several assets, but will also have to carry his $10MM cap hit for this season and four more. A full no-movement clause also comes into effect next season, as does another $7.5MM signing bonus. The Golden Knights have continuously flirted with the salary cap upper limit, but will now be carrying three players who have a cap hit of at least $8.8MM for the next several years.
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that there were actually three teams in the Eichel sweepstakes until the end. The Golden Knights, Calgary Flames and, perhaps surprisingly, Carolina Hurricanes all stayed in the talks. The NHL insider does admit that the Hurricanes weren’t close but doesn’t specify whether the Flames ever got near a deal. The report about Matthew Tkachuk yesterday was likely a way to make Vegas put their final offer on the table.
While the winner and loser of today’s deal will be discussed for years to come, one clear beneficiary of the deal is Eichel himself. While the Sabres were holding out for the biggest package possible, the 25-year-old center was dealing with a serious neck injury that needed surgery. Now, finally, he will be able to get his preferred treatment and hopefully resume his career.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Golden Knights Activate Connor Corcoran From SOIR, Assign Him To Fort Wayne
- Golden Knights prospect Connor Corcoran has been loaned to Fort Wayne of the ECHL, their farm team in Henderson announced (Twitter link). The 21-year-old defenseman is in his second professional year but, until now, has been on season-opening injured reserve for Vegas. As Corcoran didn’t spend any time in the NHL last season, there was no cap charge for his SOIR placement.
Latest On Jack Eichel
The Jack Eichel trade was “on the one-yard line” yesterday according to Emily Kaplan of ESPN, with the Vegas Golden Knights and Calgary Flames listed as finalists. Both clubs have agreed to allow Eichel to have the artificial disk replacement that he wants, but obviously, the Buffalo Sabres are trying to get the best package possible in return before accepting a trade.
If you were wondering what kind of package could get it done, Kevin Weekes of ESPN tweets that it is his understanding that the Flames have Matthew Tkachuk, an upcoming first-round selection, a player who was a first-round pick, and two prospects on the table. In any Eichel deal, a big-ticket salary (or several smaller ones) would have to be included, not only to open up cap space for the acquiring team but also to get the Sabres over the cap floor. Remember, Eichel is not yet on long-term injured reserve, meaning any acquiring team would need to have the space under the cap to land him before moving him off the roster.
Tkachuk of course would be that big-ticket, especially given his upcoming qualifying offer. When his current three-year, $21MM deal expires at the end of this season, whichever team has his rights will have to issue him a $9MM qualifying offer to retain them. At that point, given Tkachuk has already played in six seasons, he could simply accept the one-year, $9MM deal or go to arbitration to secure a contract that walks him right into unrestricted free agency in 2023.
Eichel isn’t expected to be ready to play for several months after the surgery is performed, meaning whoever does end up with him isn’t getting any help right away. The Golden Knights are dealing with quite a few injuries already, while the Flames are currently 6-1-2 and tied for first place in the Pacific Division. It’s hard to fathom either one making a huge splash right now, but reports have continued to indicate that a deal is on the horizon.
Flames head coach Darryl Sutter meanwhile isn’t giving up any information. When asked about the Eichel speculation today, he told reporters that he’s not aware of any talks and believes it is “just a media thing.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Golden Knights Confirm Karlsson Injury
- The Vegas Golden Knights confirmed today that William Karlsson will be out for four to six weeks with a lower-body injury, one that was reported to be a broken foot yesterday. Brett Howden will get the first chance to skate between Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault as the Golden Knights take on the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening.
William Karlsson Out With Broken Foot
If you had to choose a single player that the Vegas Golden Knights could ill afford to lose from the lineup, it would likely be center William Karlsson. The Golden Knights are already dealing with injuries to Alex Tuch, Max Pacioretty, Nolan Patrick, and Mark Stone, but were likely weakest overall at the center ice position. Now Karlsson, after playing more than 19 minutes in his last game, will miss roughly six weeks with a broken foot according to Jesse Granger of The Athletic.
Granger suggests that it will be Nicolas Roy that moves up to play between Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault, but notes how much pressure this will put on Chandler Stephenson, the team’s de facto first-line center. Even up until the last little while Stephenson’s success in Vegas was regarded as a product of his linemates, though he has played so well with Stone and Pacioretty on the sidelines that many have changed their minds.
The problem is, it’s not only the even-strength lineup that’s affected, given how much Karlsson plays on both special teams. In 2020-21, no Golden Knights forward saw more short-handed ice time than Karlsson, and only Stone and Pacioretty averaged more with the man advantage. He takes a huge number of the team’s draws as their best option in the faceoff dot, and drives play between two other “original” Golden Knights–those selected in the 2017 expansion draft.
Karlsson likely has been the biggest success story from that process, as he went from a career-high of nine goals to scoring 43 in his first season with the Golden Knights. Over 291 regular season games with Vegas, he has 222 points.
Now without him for six weeks, the Golden Knights must find another way to fill out the middle of the ice and continue their charge up the Pacific Division standings. The team has won their past three contests, evening their record at 4-4 and climbing to fifth in the divisional race.
Golden Knights Again Linked To Jack Eichel
The Jack Eichel saga continues, though things are coming to a head according to several NHL insiders. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff tweets that the Vegas Golden Knights are “well down the track” in Eichel talks with the Buffalo Sabres, but notes that there are still plenty of moving parts. Kevin Weekes of ESPN adds that the Calgary Flames are with the Golden Knights as potential destinations still, though he too notes that things remain “fluid and complex.”