The saga ends: Jack Eichel traded to Vegas, not Calgary

Good news, everyone: Jack Eichel has been traded!

Bad news, everyone: Jack Eichel has been traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, not the Calgary Flames.

Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the trade is Eichel and a 2023 third round pick to Vegas for Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch, a 2022 first round pick and 2023 second round pick. Per TSN’s Darren Dreger, the first round pick is top 10 protected.

Tuch is 25 years old and under contract through 2025-26 with a $4.75 million cap hit. (He’s currently on the injury reserve.) Krebs is 20 years old and on his entry level deal ($863,333), but under team control until he’s 27. Buffalo adds two good players – one young, one prime-aged – with 12 combined years of team control, while adding just $5.6 million of cap hits for the next couple of seasons.

Vegas was able to add Eichel without Buffalo needing to take on significant salary, like they would have had to do for a Flames trade. Vegas was able to add 12 years of controlled assets, while the Flames were reportedly dangling the likes of Matthew Tkachuk and Sean Monahan, both slated to become unrestricted free agents in two seasons.

The Golden Knights add a heck of a hockey player, albeit one they’re adding to an impressive injured list that includes Eichel, Nolan Patrick, Mark Stone, Zach Whitecloud and Max Pacioretty. The Sabres add a couple players and a couple picks. The Flames… remain as they were, a team off to a pretty good start to their hockey season.