Jack Eichel

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The first and last question asked after any sports trade is “Who won the deal?”

Nov. 4 will be the one-year anniversary of when the Buffalo Sabres traded Jack Eichel and a conditional third-round pick in 2023 to the Vegas Golden Knights for Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, a 2022 first-round pick (Noah Östlund), and a 2023 second-round pick. Both teams have to feel good about the returns so far.

Eichel has put up 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 10 games this season. Meanwhile, the Sabres should be thrilled with the haul of young players and picks they received.

That the Sabres can claim success after giving up the best player in the trade shows how well they did. Being handed the reins of a team whose best player wants out isn't ideal, but first-time general manager Kevyn Adams saw it as an opportunity for a fresh start.

"The day that trade was made, 100 percent of my attention and focus was on who we got in the trade and what we need to do here to be better," Adams said. "The reality is, you have to have players that believe in what you're doing as an organization and truly want to be part of it. And those two players in particular [Tuch and Krebs]—and I'll say Noah Östlund because now that we've drafted him—they fit that. And that, to me, was a really important part of this."

For Buffalo, it meant cutting the final ties to an era that began with losing for the purpose to improve lottery chances and jump-start a return to glory with elite talent. Sam Reinhart and Rasmus Ristolainen were already gone. Moving Eichel to Sin City meant virtually every major tie to the pre-Adams regimes was cut.

The Sabres were no longer putting the hopes of returning to the postseason for the first time since 2011—and the dreams of winning the Stanley Cup—all on the back of one player. Eichel was a dynamo capable of swinging a game by himself.

That approach didn’t work for the Sabres, though, because they lacked depth all over the roster. Instead, they decided to try assembling a more complete team, and Tuch gave them the spark they needed in the face of extreme change.

Tuch is a power forward the likes of which the Sabres haven’t had in ages. Nothing excites a Buffalo crowd more than a guy who can crunch opponents along the boards and fill the net.

"Something that he brings that's a little different is just as his size and his strength," teammate Tage Thompson said. "He's a beast out there, and combined with his speed, I think it catches a lot of people by surprise. They think they’ve got a lot more time with the puck and then he's right on you, which is good for us because we get the puck back quicker and then we get to go play offense."

In 50 games with the Sabres last season, Tuch had 12 goals and 38 points. He's off to a hot start this season, as he's tied with Thompson, Victor Olofsson and Rasmus Dahlin for the team lead in goals with six. He’s third on the team in points with nine, behind Thompson and Dahlin (12).

That’s the kind of impact the Sabres hoped he would provide with more ice time and opportunities than he had in Vegas.

"(Tuch) is clearly a player that other guys identify within the locker room as already a great, elite talent in the NHL, and the potential to be extremely impactful where we envision he can get to, that's clear and evident," Sabres head coach Don Granato said. "It's nice to have another player that comes in with that talent and that experience and still feels like a young guy. That's a great combination of everything."

In Vegas, Tuch was a young player in a sea of outstanding skilled veterans. The move to Buffalo turned him into one of the Sabres' most experienced veteran players at age 26.

"I was the youngest guy on the team (in Vegas), or at least when it came to games played, so I was pretty much a rookie for three years," Tuch said. "Now, it's crazy to be in the upper echelon in age on a team and you have all these younger guys below you."

Fans took to Tuch’s on-ice leadership immediately, and his teammates were right there with them. What’s more, neither Adams nor Granato asked him to adjust his affable, gregarious and fun-loving nature to act more like a leader.

It turns out that having him be himself is the exact kind of leader they needed. How he carries himself is infectious.

"He's a great guy," Thompson said. "He's always in a good mood, so whether you're having a good or a bad day coming to the rink, he's always buzzing around. So it's good for the atmosphere in the room, and I think that translates onto the ice as well."

The addition of Krebs provided Buffalo with another offensively gifted player. Not since 2006 have the Sabres had so many young, skilled players, each of whom has distinct talents.

The 21-year-old Krebs' passing and vision is what allows him to stand out among the snipers, danglers and net crashers.

"That's a guy that no matter where I put him, on wing or at center, anybody and everybody's excited that he's on his line," Granato said. "They just believe that he can get them the puck, that he's going to make plays. And he's a fun guy to play with because he's creative."

Buffalo's lack of secondary scoring behind Eichel was glaring whenever he didn't produce. If he had an off night, the Sabres were virtually doomed to lose.

That’s no longer a problem. They can spread the wealth among a few lines.

"One of the things that we spent a lot of time working on was, how do we make sure any deal we make is looking at the long term, not doing something reactionary, or with a short-term focus," Adams said. "That's why it was so critical for us in that deal with Alex that he's in the prime of his career and he had term on his contract. You get Peyton, who's in his first year of an entry-level [contract] that we think is going to be a really good player for us, and he has been, and he will continue to get better."

Minding the here and now as well as down the road is the key point of what it means to be an NHL general manager. The Sabres as previously constructed weren’t in position to immediately challenge for the Stanley Cup.

Right now, things are trending up. The Sabres are 6-3-0 with 12 points through nine games. It took them 11 games to reach 12 points last season.

They're taking baby steps, but with huge leaps in progress for their most important players.

"It's exciting to be part of something that's getting better every day," Krebs said. "It's been a lot of fun, and I'm excited to see where we go from here."

One of the best things about hockey is the uncertainty. We make our predictions, study the game to death, pretend to understand the charts that say the players we like are good and hope for the best. A lot of the time all of the preparation works out, but sometimes hockey forces us to throw it all out the window and enjoy the ride.

The 2022-23 NHL season isn't even one month old yet and there's already so much to be wrong about. Yay! I'm sure we'll get to the unpleasant surprises eventually, but for now, why don't we enjoy the good?

As it turns out, a lot of the pleasant surprises through the first two weeks of the season are oddly connected to each other. Noted Ottawa Senators fan Alanis Morissette said it best, "Life has a funny way of helping you out." Clearly, she was talking about the Vegas Golden Knights.

Anyway, let's take a look at the most pleasant surprises in the NHL while the season's still a baby.

1. Rasmus Dahlin and the Sabres

Breaking news, folks: 2018 first overall draft pick Rasmus Dahlin might actually be good.

Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever learn our lesson when it comes to this stuff, but let Dahlin's current tear be another reminder to have some patience with the guys who go straight to the NHL. Next time an 18-year-old draft pick joins a bad team and doesn't immediately blow us all out of the water, shall we give it a few years? No? A girl can dream.

Looking back with context, Dahlin wasn't ever even performing at a level where I'd seriously think he was a bust. He was on a great trajectory before the pandemic, struggled along with his team in 2020-21 and showed more spurts of potential in 2021-22 with 13 goals and 53 points in 80 games. Of course, those spurts of potential came when Dahlin had a greater opportunity following Rasmus Ristolainen's trade, and they also came with a bad plus/minus—such is life as the best defenseman on a bad team.

But is the 22-year-old entering his true breakout season now, following a full season of important experience?

Six games in and the Buffalo Sabres are 4-2-0, and it was a particularly vibey 4-1-0 before Tuesday night's 5-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken. Dahlin is currently leading all NHL defensemen in points with nine and goals with five in six games played, and the five-game season-starting goal streak he just snapped became an NHL record among defensemen.

Then there's goaltender Craig Anderson at the top of the league with his 2-0, 1.0 goals against average and .970 save percentage. We aren't kidding ourselves into believing this two-game sample means more than it does, but it's a good start.

All of this and we haven't even touched on Alex Tuch's seven points in six games or Tage Thompson's hot start, including his selection of "Fishin' in the Dark" for his goal song.

Obviously, it's ridiculous to read too much into things less than a month into the season, and like many, I've been fooled by a Sabres hot start or two in the very recent past. But I like what I see here, we'll see how they bounce back from this big loss to Seattle, and sometimes giving people room to spread their wings is the only way they get off the ground…

2. Jack Eichel and the Golden Knights

Speaking of the Sabres, Jack Eichel is off to a hot start in Vegas with three goals and seven points in eight games. The Golden Knights are doing better than expected in general at 6-2-0.

Eichel's hot start accounted for, you also have to give credit to goalie Logan Thompson, who has worked himself up from the ECHL to Vegas' No. 1 with Robin Lehner likely out for the season following hip surgery. Adin Hill hasn't been a shabby 1a, either.

I described every team with one word heading into the season, and for the Golden Knights, that word was "karma." They'd been flying too close to the sun with all the cap-space maneuvers and coaching hot seats already amassing in their short team history. It looks like they listened to Taylor Swift's new album, Midnights, and adopted her philosophy on karma—"Karma's a relaxing thought"—instead of mine, though.

There's also ironman Phil Kessel, who exudes good karma and sweats blue Powerade everywhere he goes.

And finally, there's new head coach Bruce Cassidy, who the team snatched up just over one week after the Boston Bruins somewhat surprisingly let him go. Now that I've laid it all out like this, I'm starting to feel bad about ever wishing ill upon this team…

3. The Bruins

Speaking of the Bruins, I tried to warn y'all that this team is not done. Despite the naysayers, Boston is 6-1-0 to start the season—and yes, Bostonians, I will mention they're doing that without Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy before you beat me to it in the comments.

What's working?

David Pastrňák, aka Mr. Blank Check, for starters.

Pastrňák not only has five goals and 12 points in seven games, but he's making it look fun in true Pastrňák fashion. That's an easy one, especially with his friend David Krejčí back in the mix. Arguably even more encouraging for the Bruins has been their scoring depth. Of all who have skated in every Bruins game, everyone except Tomáš Nosek has recorded at least one point. Twelve have recorded a goal, and Nick Foligno's three goals already surpass last season's total.

I've long thought this team's performance can be measured in Jake DeBrusk's vibes per 60. If DeBrusk looks like he's having a good time, you can bet the team is in a good place, and this kid seems like he's having the time of his life these days.

Goaltender Linus Ullmark is also having a strong start with a 5-0-0 record and a .936 save percentage.

4. The Flyers

This is where the connections end unless we really want to stretch it and tie Foligno's hot start to his former coach and current Philadelphia Flyers coach John Tortorella.

Say what you will about Torts and his no-nonsense approach, and it definitely doesn't work for everyone, but at least for now it's seeming to jibe with the Philly market and apparently with what was supposed to be a bottom-five team in the league. The Flyers are a team that needed Torts if there ever was one. They started out the season undefeated through three games and currently sit at 4-2-0. I do think the team will trend down sooner rather than later, the offense is already severely lacking at times, and it doesn't help that James van Riemsdyk is going to be out for at least one month after finger surgery.

But what's the point in saying all this when we weren't even expecting a hot start to begin with out of this team? Enjoy it while it lasts.

5. The Retro Reverse Jerseys

The NHL released its latest set of alternate jerseys via Adidas last week, and it might be my favorite batch of jerseys the league has ever put together. Between the Panthers' ode to Florida, the Bruins' ode to the Pooh Bear and the Tampa Bay Lightning's ode to a throwback so bad that it's good, I was thoroughly impressed. I loved that teams were branching out and giving the people what they actually want. More fun, please!

The Vegas Golden Knights are in deep trouble, and they’re still more than a month away from the start of training camp.

On Thursday, Vegas announced goalie Robin Lehner will miss the entire 2022-2023 season after he undergoes hip surgery. Injuries prevented Lehner from playing nearly half last season. Now, he’s gone for all of the upcoming one. The Knights’ modus operandi of mortgaging the future to win the Stanley Cup at all costs is coming back to bite them.

Without Lehner, Vegas’ goaltending situation is rough for a team with Cup hopes, never mind one that's trying to get back to the playoffs after missing them for the first time last season.

If you gave a regular NHL fan a pop quiz and asked them to name any of the goalies behind Lehner, chances are they would fail. Laurent Brossoit, Logan Thompson and Michael Hutchinson will compete for the bulk of the starts.

While Thompson’s numbers were very good for Vegas (10-5-3, .914 save percentage in 19 games), they represent 95 percent of his NHL experience. He’s been very good for Vegas’ AHL team in Henderson the past two seasons as well, so there’s reason to be optimistic, but if that sounds like it leads to more questions than answers, you’d be correct.

Free agency is of no help to Vegas. The Golden Knights are in salary-cap hell, with minus-$5.8 million in space, and although Lehner’s injury and the addition of Shea Weber’s contract ($7.9 million AAV) will eventually provide them with a boatload of LTIR spending, it won't do them any good on the open market.

Ten free-agent goalies played at least one game last season, and seven of them are unrestricted. Braden Holtby is the biggest name on the list, but he’s unlikely to play this year because of a lower-body injury, and his career may even be over.

The rest of the unrestricted goalies are career backups or minimally experienced, and restricted free agents are generally a no-go unless there’s a trade.

Vegas could try to deal for a No. 1 goalie, but which NHL team would uproot its situation to swing a deal? The Islanders have Semyon Varlamov, who has one year remaining on his contract, but Isles general manager Lou Lamoriello has made it a point to say they’re keeping the veteran Russian despite Ilya Sorokin’s dominant play last season.

San Jose has James Reimer and Adin Hill who could be had, but the Sharks and Knights are already bitter rivals, so why help an enemy unless you’re making them pay the iron price?

All that aside, trades have done more harm than good for Vegas in their short history. The number of future selections former GM George McPhee and current GM Kelly McCrimmon moved out for players who either haven’t worked out or have already moved on is staggering for a franchise that’s been around for five years.

Look back to February 2018 when they gave up first-, second- and third-round picks to Detroit for Tomas Tatar, only to move Tatar in September of that year along with Nick Suzuki and a second-round pick for Max Pacioretty.

They then moved Pacioretty and Dylan Coghlan to Carolina a month ago for future considerations. Being able to take a major acquisition in which they gave up four total players, one a highly touted prospect who became a top-six center in Suzuki, and four draft picks while turning it into future considerations is staggering mismanagement.

Then there’s the Jack Eichel trade from November.

Vegas gave the Sabres Alex Tuch, prospect Peyton Krebs, a conditional first-round pick and a second-round pick for Eichel and a future third-rounder. Eichel needed artificial disk replacement surgery in his neck and was desperate to get out of Buffalo, which should’ve left the Sabres without a lot of leverage for a deal.

Instead, Vegas gave up a solid veteran in Tuch—who would’ve thrived with the extra ice time that injuries to Pacioretty and Mark Stone would’ve provided—and Krebs, who is on the verge of becoming a regular in the NHL, and two more top-60 picks in the expectation that Eichel, who may not be the same player he was, can put them over the top.

Even dealing Marc-Andre Fleury to Chicago last July was a mess of their own making after they acquired Lehner from the Blackhawks the year before as insurance. Adding another starting goalie when you’ve already got a multiple-time Stanley Cup winner between the pipes didn’t make much sense then and made much less once they were forced to move Fleury.

All those picks, all those prospects—all of them very well cost controlled on entry-level contracts—all in favor of experienced veterans with fat contracts. For each good deal they’ve made (Chandler Stephenson, Stone), there are so many that don’t mesh with how teams develop a starter organization.

Sin City is all about making gambles, but sometimes you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to walk away from the table.

Salary-cap info via CapFriendly.

Vegas Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel underwent disk replacement surgery on Friday and is expected to make a full recovery, the team announced.

The Golden Knights said the surgery was successful and they will provide additional details on Eichel's timetable to return "when appropriate."

ESPN's Greg Wyshynski reported Thursday that Eichel was expected to have surgery at the Rocky Mountain Spine Clinic and would remain in Denver for three weeks for observation before doing most of his rehab in Vegas.

Wyshynski adds that Eichel's expected recovery timeline is three months, which would mean he could return as soon as mid-February. 

Eichel, who was traded to Vegas from the Buffalo Sabres last week, thanked the Golden Knights on Monday for allowing him to undergo the procedure that caused a rift between himself and his former team. The Sabres wanted Eichel to undergo neck fusion surgery, while the star forward wanted the disk replacement procedure. 

The 25-year-old added that he hopes the NHL and NHLPA will reconsider their regulations on allowing teams to have full control over a player's medical treatment, per Sportsnet.

"I think my situation shined light on maybe some things that could be changed, and I hope that they are in the future," Eichel said. "I don't necessarily agree with the team having the full say in what to do with medical treatment. I think it should be a collaboration."

Eichel was introduced as a Golden Knight for the first time before Tuesday's game against the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Arena. He is expected to serve as the team's top center when he returns from injury. 

The Boston University product spent six seasons with the Sabres after being drafted second overall in 2015. However, he has not played since March 7 because of his neck injury. 

Eichel signed an eight-year, $80 million contract extension with Buffalo before the 2017-18 season. He won't become a free agent until after the 2025-26 campaign.  

After getting traded to the Vegas Golden Knights earlier this week, Jack Eichel tweeted a video Saturday in which he thanked the Buffalo Sabres and their fans.

The video featured Eichel's first NHL goal in 2015 and many of his top highlights during his time with the Sabres:

He concluded by saying: "I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the fans and everyone that supported me in this incredible city."

After Eichel had a disagreement with the Sabres organization regarding what type of neck surgery to receive and requested a trade, Buffalo finally parted ways with him Thursday.

The Sabres sent Eichel and a 2023 third-round pick to the Golden Knights for forwards Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch, a top-10 protected first-round pick in 2022 and a second-round pick in 2023.

Eichel, 25, was the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft behind Connor McDavid. He spent most of his six seasons with the Sabres as the captain and enjoyed some highly productive campaigns.

The Massachusetts native finished his time in Buffalo with 139 goals and 216 assists for 355 points in 375 regular-season games, and he was a three-time All-Star selection.

After undergoing surgery and recovering, Eichel will attempt to reach the playoffs for the first time in his NHL career as a member of the Golden Knights.