McCrimmon - Comments on Eichel Trade

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Josh
November 4, 2021 (1:45 PM)

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The Vegas Golden Knights have freed Jack Eichel from Buffalo and according to General Manager Kelly McCrimmon they will be allowing Eichel to have his preferred form of medical care. The Buffalo Sabres had refused to allow Eichel to have disk replacement surgery, but McCrimmon confirmed this morning that Eichel will be going under the knife shortly.

Obviously this surgery leaves some concerns for Vegas and McCrimmon expects Eichel's recovery to take anywhere from 3-5 months and this confirms Eichel is going to miss the Olympics as he rehabs from this procedure.

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McCrimmon also shared that Vegas wasn't in the market for a center man, but noted Eichel wasn't just "any center".

McCrimmon also feels that in this deal he's added a top player in the league when he's healthy.

This deal doesn't come as much of a surprise as it was reported for almost three weeks now that Vegas was the front runner. It'll be very interesting to see what comes of this surgery as an Pacioretty-Eichel-Stone line could be the best line in hockey.