FORMER TOP PICK TO PLAY AT KEYBANK ARENA SINCE BEING TRADED TO VEGAS
When Jack Eichel was drafted No.2 overall back in 2015 he has produced 355 goals in 375 games and is considered to be one of the top centers in the NHL. But on thing Eichel couldn’t do, was lead Sabres to a playoff berth. And since being traded to Vegas he has scored three goals and 4 assists in 10 games for Golden Knights.
Eichel has no ill-feelings towards the Sabres for trading him to Golden Knights. But wish he could’ve given the franchise more. “There’s some amazing people that work for the Sabres organization, and those are the people you want to have success for,” Eichel said. “You look at a guy like RJ, there’s not a lot of better people that you’re going to come across. He’s been doing this forever. When you think of the Sabres, you kind of think of him. You just wish you had more success for people like that that have been here through everything; some of the equipment guys, some of the guys that have worked for the team, these are the guys that wear the Buffalo Sabres on their sleeve. As a team, I think every year we wished we had more success.”
Eichel and the Sabres parted ways because of a disagreement on how to treat a herniated disk in his neck that kept him out of the final 33 games last season. Buffalo was not comfortable with his desire to have artificial disk replacement surgery, which had never before been performed on an NHL player, and opted to trade him to Vegas, which allowed him to have the procedure.
“No bitterness,” Eichel said. “None whatsoever. I had a phenomenal time here in Buffalo, lived out a childhood dream playing my first NHL game. The organization, the city was nothing but great to me and my family.”
