Talks between the Golden Knights and Sabres regarding center Jack Eichel have picked up in recent days, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Vegas is off to a tough start to their season with a 2-4 record and bringing someone like Eichel in won’t exactly help in the short term with him still needing neck surgery which will take him out for several months, whichever version of the procedure he winds up getting. Seravalli adds that there has been some talk about getting a third team involved to make the financial element work with the Golden Knights tight to the Upper Limit of the salary cap as usual. Buffalo has insisted they won’t retain on the remaining five years and $50MM of Eichel’s deal although they are open to taking other contracts back to make the money work. Enticing another team to retain on Eichel’s deal would be costly – it has to be done for the remainder of the deal and not just certain years – but it would certainly make it easier to fit Eichel into their salary structure.
- Also from Seravalli’s column, the Golden Knights are still waiting for some clarity on Mark Stone’s injury. There is some concern that it could be a long-term issue which could free up the short-term LTIR room needed to absorb Eichel’s contract although that’s only good until both players would be ready to return. Stone is currently listed as somewhere between day-to-day and week-to-week which is a creative way of saying he’s out indefinitely.