Jack Eichel makes his first public statement as a member of the Golden Knights

The Buffalo Sabres have finally, mercifully traded disgruntled former captain Jack Eichel.

Late overnight the trade talks between Sabres GM Kevyn Adams and Vegas Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon hammered out the details of this blockbuster deal and finally consummated the long rumoured deal between the two clubs.

Insiders from Sportsnet, TSN and ESPN all broke news of the trade before it was officially confirmed, but the teams have now confirmed the details of the deal.

Check it out:

So essentially Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, a 1st round pick and a 2nd round pick for Eichel and a 3rd round pick.

Not a bad return per se, but there were reports yesterday that the Calgary Flames had offered up Matthew Tkachuk and multiple 1st round picks for Eichel. That, to me, is a more appealing offer but it's possible that the Sabres were a little scared off of Tkachuk given his contract status. Tkachuk is in the final year of a deal that pays him $7 million and the Sabres would have had to convince him to re-sign in any potential trade. To me, it seems likely then that the Sabres would have moved away from the Flames at that time and turned their focus to Vegas where they ultimately did find a deal.

So... how does Eichel himself feel about the deal? Well, he seems pretty exited:

TSN's Darren Dreger reports that the Golden Knights will allow Eichel to have whatever kind of surgery he wants to fix his chronic neck injury and that the recovery for the surgery will be approximately four months.

If you're counting at home that means that Eichel could be ready to hit the ice as early as March, 2022 just in time to get in some regular season games and gear up another Golden Knights playoff run. In the meantime though, it's expected that he'll be placed on long-term injury reserve in order to accommodate for his $10 million annual salary. So, while the Golden Knights now have Eichel on their payroll, they'll still have to make a move or two to get him on their official roster while remaining under the NHL's salary cap.