Why Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel will silence his doubters this season

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022 | 2 a.m.

Jack Eichel grins, raises his arms up and wraps them over the shoulders of Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb, pulling his Golden Knights’ teammates tighter into the camera frame at T-Mobile Arena.

It’s a week before the team starts training camp for the 2022-2023 season, and the ice at the home venue is covered by a hard floor holding thousands of temporary chairs and a fighting octagon. Eichel has one of the best seats in the house for UFC 279, and he’s not trying to contain his excitement for his first major combat-sports experience.

The 25-year-old, who’s heading into his first full season since being traded to Vegas, doesn’t jibe with the labels with which he’s so often saddled—self-centered star, locker room cancer, permanent malcontent. The more Eichel gets comfortable in town, the more those accusations begin to feel as baseless as the “bum,” “fraud” and “loser” insults Twitter users posted under a photo the UFC shared of him at the fight.

Eichel is none of these things, and the upcoming season sets up as his greatest opportunity yet to show it. He looks to be the single most important player in new coach Bruce Cassidy’s scheme, which emphasizes space and creativity and meshes with Eichel’s strengths.

Mark Stone remains the Golden Knights’ captain, but Eichel is the one anchoring the team’s top line and being counted on to produce the most offense. With the 30-year-old Stone also coming off back surgery, Vegas might ultimately go as far as Eichel can take it.

“[Eichel is] coming in A) healthy, B) with something to prove, C) with a new coach, and, basically, his first full year in a whole new organization,” Cassidy told NHL.com. “So there’s a lot for him to get excited about in terms of, ‘Hey, you know what? This could be a springboard for my career.’”

In a brief two-month span with Vegas last year, Eichel showed glimpses of the talent that made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, a three-time All Star and once-hailed savior of the Buffalo Sabres’ franchise. After recovering from neck surgery, he scored 14 goals and put up 25 points—despite playing for six weeks with a broken thumb—but the Golden Knights ultimately missed the postseason for the first time in franchise history.

That led to more Eichel mockery, as hockey fans from Buffalo and beyond gleefully pointed out that he had now missed the playoffs in all seven of his professional seasons. Blaming Eichel for the Golden Knights’ 2021-2022 failure is ludicrous, however, considering the rash of injuries that decimated the rest of the roster.

It’s almost as silly as believing Eichel can’t raise his game further after a full offseason to prepare, instead of less than three months after a major medical operation.

“I didn’t have any restrictions, so it was nice to be healthy, a nice peace of mind,” Eichel says. “I knew where I would be come September and knew I’d have my health.”

Eichel missed nearly a year of hockey while he publicly warred with the Sabres over the best procedure to address a spinal disc herniation. NHL peers, including Vegas goalie Robin Lehner, rallied to Eichel’s defense and rationally argued that he should have autonomy over his body. But that campaign only went so far in changing public perception.

It’s no shock sentiment in Buffalo turned against Eichel, but it’s a bit odd that he has become a villainous figure across the league. He hasn’t even been fully embraced in Vegas, where many fans continue to lament the assets it took to acquire him, including fan favorite Alex Tuch and top prospect Peyton Krebs.

The four years and $40 million left on Eichel’s contract also forced the team to trade Max Pacioretty, Vegas’ leading goal-scorer during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons, to Carolina for future considerations in July.

Stone admitted to the Hockey News this offseason that he was aware of Eichel’s negative reputation when the Golden Knights traded for him. But, Stone said, he quickly realized it was unmerited when he “found a hard-worker who is the exact opposite of a bad teammate.”

“We love having him here,” forward Chandler Stephenson added. “He’s set the tone.”

Maybe Eichel did arrive in Buffalo seven years ago with a cockiness not uncommon for an 18-year-old considered a can’t-miss talent. If so, he has grown from the experience.

Eichel endeared himself to his new team last season, starting his tenure by going on an East Coast trip with the team rather than resting at home while recovering from his surgery. When he broke his thumb, he didn’t publicly reveal it, playing through the injury in an attempt to push the Golden Knights into the playoffs.

His efforts resulted in the Golden Knights selecting him as their nominee for the Bill Masterson Trophy, annually given to the NHL player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.”

Eichel continued to demonstrate his commitment to his new franchise—something his critics say he never did in Buffalo—during the offseason by bouncing between Las Vegas and his native Boston. In July, he came back for the Battle of Vegas charity softball game between the Golden Knights and Raiders and smiled as widely throughout it as he did during the UFC card.

Eichel blasted a home run at one point and cartwheeled onto home plate. When video of the celebration surfaced on social media, the usual reception to anything Eichel-related commenced—jokes about his record, attitude and even his neck.

The detractors should get their laughs while they can. If Eichel stays on his current course, he’ll get the last one, a well-deserved validation that should start this season.

This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.