The Vegas Golden Knights and Jack Eichel are focused on signing a max-term deal as the two sides work towards an extension for the pending unrestricted free agent, TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports.
Eichel, 28, is entering the final season of an eight-year, $80 million contract with an annual cap hit of $10 million.
“Ongoing discussions between the Vegas Golden Knights and Jack Eichel. Really important to know – he does not want to go anywhere,“ LeBrun said Tuesday on Insider Trading. ”His only focus is signing with the Vegas Golden Knights. The two sides, I’m told, are really focused on an eight-year deal, so forget the idea of him mimicking [Connor] McDavid and doing two years. No, Eichel wants to sign long-term.
“In the meantime, they’ve just got to get to the right average annual value. And I’m told that the [Kirill] Kaprizov deal, the McDavid deal, those are not big impacts in this conversation. They’re focused on where they need to go and the two sides hope to get something done at some point.”
Kaprizov appeared to reset the market with his record-setting eight-year, $136 million contract ($17M AAV) with the Minnesota Wild last week, before McDavid elected to sign just a two-year, $25 million extension with the Edmonton Oilers on Monday, which kept his cap hit at $12.5 million.
Eichel could become one of the league’s highest-paid players on his next deal, a list currently led by Kaprizov, Oilers star Leon Draisaitl ($14M), Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews ($13.25M) and Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon ($12.6M).
The 6-foot-2 centre recorded 28 goals and 94 points in 77 games with the Golden Knights last season. He added a goal and 10 points in 11 playoff games before his team was eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in the second round.
Vegas acquired Eichel from the Buffalo Sabres in November of 2021 in exchange for forwards Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch, and two draft picks.
Drafted second overall by the Sabres in 2015, Eichel has 239 goals and 608 points in 616 career games split between the Sabres and Golden Knights.
Eichel helped the Golden Knights win their first Stanley Cup title in franchise history during the 2022-23 campaign, recording six goals and 26 points in 22 playoff games.
