Eichel healthy, eyes playoff run with Golden Knights after successful regular season

Jack Eichel has experienced health issues throughout his NHL career. The Vegas Golden Knights center has missed weeks, sometimes months with various injuries, from the herniated disk that required artificial disk replacement surgery in 2021 to a lower-body injury that led to surgery last season.

But good health has been on his side this season.

“We’ve had a good season as a team and I’ve been a benefactor of a lot of those things, but for myself personally, yeah, this is probably the best I’ve felt physically and mentally in quite some time,” Eichel said. “So, it’s been good.”

Eichel had an NHL career-high 94 points (28 goals, 66 assists) in 77 games, the most he played in a regular season since playing 77 for the Buffalo Sabres in 2018-19.

And now he's ready for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Golden Knights (50-22-10), who won the Pacific Division and will play the Minnesota Wild (45-30-7), the first wild card, in the Western Conference First Round.

Game 1 of the best-of-7 series is at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, SN360, TVAS).

Eichel was by far the Golden Knights’ top scorer this season; forward Mark Stone was second with 67 points (19 goals, 48 assists) in 66 games.

The 28-year-old also led Vegas with 34 power-play points and averaged 20:32 of ice time per game, most among its forwards and fourth on the team behind defensemen Alex Pietrangelo (22:24), Shea Theodore (22:00) and Noah Hanifin (21:33).

Eichel was also plus-32, which led Golden Knights forwards.

“When he’s been healthy, he’s played very well both ends of the ice; he’s a little more confident,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “You win a (Stanley) Cup, that’s going to do that for you. He had a good playoff run (in 2022), so you have a little swagger in a good way.

“… I think his body’s cooperating with him and he’s been able to go out there every night. Different linemates. Mark Stone missed a lot of time; he was with him. (Ivan) Barbashev missed a lot of time. So, he’s elevated other people’s games around him. He’s probably played with every winger in that room, and it hasn’t affected him at all in a negative. It’s always been a positive.”

Eichel had 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) in 22 playoff games in 2023, helping Vegas win the Stanley Cup for the first time.

Don Granato worked with Eichel for the United States National Team Development Program and then with the Sabres, mainly as an assistant coach from 2019-21. He believes Eichel’s health -- but more importantly his evolution since being selected by Buffalo with the No. 2 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft -- has helped him continue to produce.

“He’s pouncing on situations with more clarity than, ‘OK, my skillset can take advantage of this situation as it arises.’ That’s just maturity, which every single player realizes that,” Granato said. “(Washington Capitals captain Alex) Ovechkin’s realizing that in a different way because his body can’t do what it did in his 20s. He realizes, ‘I can score this way, add to my game that way.’ They all evolve their game.”

Eichel was drafted immediately after Connor McDavid was taken No. 1 by the Edmonton Oilers. He made his NHL debut at the age of 18 and was tasked with helping reverse the Sabres’ fortunes.

Buffalo (35-39-7) hasn’t qualified for the postseason since 2010-11.

“It’s not easy to be in the same draft as McDavid, not easy to be identified at 14, 15 years old to be a budding star,” Granato said. “There’s a lot of baggage that comes with that, a lot of extra drama, questions, and it can be a very large weight, as you see with all high-end kids. They bear an extra burden. They don’t ask for it, they just want to play hockey. He has a love of his team and teammates and just wants to come to the rink and play hockey. It’s nice to see him enjoying that more and more as he goes through his career.”

Ralph Krueger, who coached Eichel with the Sabres from 2019-21, said Eichel needed to bide his time.

“He wanted so much, so fast in his career that I think (it was) just patience for the way things come at you during a season and accepting also tougher times or little setbacks with the team or with himself and not putting quite so much pressure on himself all the time to be the one,” Krueger said. “The way it was in Buffalo, it was hard for him not to be, because he had the ‘C’ and all those other things at such a young age.”

When Eichel was traded to the Golden Knights on Nov. 4, 2021, he joined a team that was still relatively new to the NHL (their inaugural season was 2017-18) but was one of the best in the League. Vegas advanced to the Stanley Cup Final that first season and has qualified for the playoffs in seven of eight.

“Continuing to watch him in Vegas with the Cup, a little bit of an injury-prone season and this year coming into a real consistent version, best version of himself and just dominating to lead his team to another first-place finish, it’s nothing but a pleasure,” Krueger said. “As someone who coached for three decades, he’s one of those highlights where you’re engaged when you’re with him and you continue to cheer him as he moves on. It’s a real pleasure.

“I’m not surprised by anything I’ve seen since he’s been in Vegas. It was all within him and he just needed to continue to put the package together consistently.”

This was the first season in which Eichel flirted with having 100 points, but he’s more focused on feeling great entering the playoffs, as are the rest of the Golden Knights. It’s time to see if they can all enjoy some more postseason success.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been this healthy per se, played this many games,” Eichel said. “When you get in that rhythm of playing games and just consistently being out there, it just adds that confidence and your feeling of your ability to play every other night or whatever it is.

“For me, it’s just trying to stay consistent in what I’m doing throughout the year and work hard and understand what works for me, what makes me successful.”