Big early morning news in the NHL as the Buffalo Sabres have agreed to trade Jack Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights, ending a stalemate between the organization and Eichel regarding his medical issues.
Jack Eichel has been traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, multiple sources confirm. (TSN + Sportsnet were on it first)
The deal was in fact on the one yard line this week.
The return for Buffalo is Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch, 2022 1st rounder, 2023 3rd rounder, per sources.
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) November 4, 2021
Eichel has been out since March of last season with a herniated disc in his neck, and since then, a struggle has ensued between Eichel and the Sabres medical team over the treatment of the injury. Eichel and his medical team favored having artificial disc replacement surgery, while Buffalo was against him having the procedure due to it never being performed on an NHL player.
Buffalo will send Eichel and a third-round pick to Vegas in exchange for Peyton Kerbs, Alex Tuch, a 2022 first-round draft pick, and a 2023 third-round draft pick. Kerbs, picked 17th overall by the Golden Knights in the 2019 Draft, has one assist in 13 career NHL games, while Tuch has 61 goals and 78 assists in 255 career NHL games with the Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights.
Eichel was stripped of his captaincy at the start of training camp due to the heated disagreement. The 25-year-old has five years left on an eight-year, $80 million contract.