Ever since the Buffalo Sabres traded Jack Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights, he has seen nothing but success. He won a Stanley Cup there in 2023, and the Golden Knights rewarded their star player after he enjoyed a career year in 2024-25 with an eight-year contract extension worth an AAV of $13.5 million.
It's clear that the NHL universe will remember Jack Eichel for his time with the Knights, and if they talk about his stint with the Sabres, it will be nothing but turmoil. But the question is, why is that the case? Why couldn't the Sabres make it work in Buffalo, especially when Eichel had an outstanding brewing star next to him in Sam Reinhart?
For one, there was a lot of turmoil within the Sabres organization, with the team seeing Tim Murray (who drafted Eichel), Jason Botterill, and Kevyn Adams at general manager during Eichel's tenure. Ultimately, when you have three different executives with different visions for the team, it will take time to rebuild into a contender, and there was never enough stability there to forge one.
You can say the same about all the coaching changes, with Dan Bylsma, Phil Housley, and Ralph Krueger spending time behind the bench. Very few players, even stars, would thrive in that environment, so Eichel, despite putting up good numbers, never had a chance to see a great team built around him because of all the personnel changes.
Jack Eichel left a tumultuous environment in Buffalo for a stable one in Vegas
After Eichel had a dispute with the Sabres over a neck procedure he wanted, which would have inserted an artificial disk, Kevyn Adams sent him to Vegas. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights had been one of the NHL's most stable franchises since their inaugural season in 2017-18.
While the Knights missed the playoffs for the first and only time in franchise history in 2022, that lack of success was short-lived. Vegas had stability in its front office, with Kelly McCrimmon as the general manager and George McPhee as the president of hockey operations.
The Knights were also loaded with stars, like Jonathan Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson, Shea Theodore, Alex Pietrangelo, and Mark Stone. Eichel was the missing piece the franchise had been looking for since their inaugural season. So, he joined a team that was bound to make its big return to the playoffs in 2022-23, and they didn't disappoint, bringing home the Stanley Cup.
Despite playing in 67 games, Eichel established himself as the points leader that season, taking a team that was already on the cusp of becoming elite and turning up the dial, and he hasn't looked back. If he had anything remotely similar to the Sabres, just a head coach and general manager who lasted longer than three seasons when he was with the club, maybe he's still in Buffalo today.
Sabres have nobody to blame but themselves for their handling of Jack Eichel
Unstable teams that can't maintain stability won't keep their star players long, and they go win championships elsewhere, or at least play for perennial contenders. You can say the same for Sam Reinhart, who saw similar success with the Florida Panthers. And if the Sabres continue on their current trajectory, Eichel and Reinhart may not be the last former Sabres stars to win a Stanley Cup.
While Eichel will help keep the Golden Knights performing at a high-octane pace, the Sabres need to figure out how to stop these misfortunes from happening again. Maybe they will learn from their history, but if they don't, they'll be doomed to repeat it.