Jack Eichel’s latest recovery update is hard to believe

In mid-November, newly acquired Vegas Golden Knights’ forward Jack Eichel underwent successful neck surgery in Denver and was expected to make a full recovery. After the artificial disk replacement procedure, which had never been done on an NHL player before, Eichel was said to be walking and happy with how it went.

His recovery gets better and better, and not just for fans in Sin City, but the United States entirely. At first, Eichel anticipated that the recovery time will take three months and anticipation is that he will join the Golden Knights some time after the Olympic Break.

But last Thursday, he stunned everyone as he put on skates and went on the ice in Golden Knights’ gear. And on Tuesday night, Chris Johnston revealed on Insider Trading on TSN that Eichel could get a shot at Team USA for the Winter Games:

“Jack Eichel is right on schedule in terms of his recovery, which leaves the sliver of a possibility that he could be available to Team USA at the Beijing Olympics.

“At this point, I get the sense that no one wants to put pressure on this recovery. It was obviously a significant injury, he’s had the surgery, the trade’s gone through to Vegas and everyone just wants the process to play out. I don’t even think, necessarily that Team USA is banking on him, but it’s notable that with a little over a month before that team is chosen, it hasn’t been ruled out as a possibility for Jack Eichel.”

This is such an encouraging news for the Golden Knights and Eichel himself. After an eight-month saga in which Eichel wanted out of Buffalo as the Sabres preferred an anterior cervical discectomy fusion, while Eichel and his representatives preferred this ADR procedure, the discord led to the Sabres trading Eichel and a future third-round pick to the Golden Knights on Nov. 4 for Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs and two picks.

It remains to be seen how comfortable the Golden Knights would be to send Eichel to the Winter Games before he gets some action with his new teammates prior to the Olympics. They don’t want to risk losing him over there either…