Insiders throw Eichel under the bus for his treatment of Sabres staff

Newly acquired Vegas Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel has been making the media rounds this week after last week's blockbuster trade that saw him finally, mercifully freed from the Buffalo Sabres.

Eichel, of course, requested a trade after it was clear that Buffalo's medical staff would not allow him to the have neck disc replacement surgery that he was seeking. Instead, Sabres management was insistent that Eichel receive a more traditional disc fusion surgery, which Eichel says he was adamantly against.

Eichel explained his reasoning for wanting disc replacement surgery on today's episode of the Spittin' Chiclets podcast and he even revealed the fact that he was willing to stay in Buffalo and see things through with the Sabres if they would have allowed him to get his preferred surgery.

Here's what Eichel had to say on the podcast earlier today:

"I hope that the fans in Buffalo they understand I was adamant about getting the surgery before anything else. And, you can talk about some of the things that have happened in the past... I wanted to get healthy and I wanted to play hockey. So I said to them, 'If you want to move me, that's fine. If you don't, okay but I just want to get the surgery and move on. If you allow me to get the surgery I'll come back and play in Buffalo and prove to people that I'm healthy.' They stood their ground and they still weren't comfortable enough with allowing me to get the surgery and here we are... Vegas is obviously more comfortable with it than the Buffalo organization."

- Jack Eichel

Either the Sabres were so afraid of Eichel getting that surgery that they felt he had to be traded or the relationship had become so fractured that they felt it was time to move on anyways. Interestingly enough, Sabres insider and former NHLer Craig Rivet seems to think it's a case of the latter.

On his own podcast, "After The Whistle" Rivet more or less through Eichel under the bus saying that the former Sabres captain didn't treat people in the organization well and that that ultimately may be what convinced ownership that he had to go.

From Rivet:

"There's a lot of people in this city that I know inside the organization and the way that Jack presented himself, let's put aside the captain thing, let's talk about the person, the way that he treated people around the rink, in the dressing room, around the city was not a positive thing."

Craig Rivet

Rivet's podcasting partner Andrew Peters added:

"He did an interview with Spittin' Chiclets and he said, people don't know this but I told the Sabres if they let me have the neck surgery I'd come back and play and all I thought to myself was well this just speaks to how badly the Sabres did not want you around anymore."

Andrew Peters

Whatever the case, I won't be surprised if there's more dirty laundry aired over the course of this season. It's clear that there's still some bad blood between Eichel and the Sabres organization.